


For Better, For Worse

by AGJ1990



Category: Supernatural
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:47:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24236776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AGJ1990/pseuds/AGJ1990
Summary: Caroline Winchester has been clean and sober for six years. She has a good job and a good home with her uncle, Dean Winchester, and her six-year-old daughter Kelsey. But when her father Sam, after not seeing Caroline or his brother for years, takes Caroline to court and wins custody of Kelsey, Caroline's sobriety-and the entire family-hang in the balance.
Comments: 22
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: The characters of Supernatural do not belong to me.**

**The premise of this story is a little different than usual. I was watching the episode What Is and What Should Never Be last night. I hate that episode with a passion, but it's one of my roommate's favorites, so I watched it too.**

**Anyway, I've had the idea for this story for a long time, I just couldn't find a way to make it work. Then it hit me. What if the world Dean had created in that episode was tbe real one? So that's the backdrop for this. The Winchesters have never been tainted by the supernatural. I can't say anything more without giving the plot away, so I won't.**

**One last thing. I am a diehard Sam girl. But in this story, at least for most of it, he's the 'bad guy's. That's on purpose. So if any of my fellow Sam lovers are reading this, I've (temporarily) switched teams. I am not a Dean hater by any means, but I assure you, I'm still a Sam girl at heart.**

**The story is rated M because of themes that will come up later.**

Caroline had been in a courtroom before. Twice, in fact. This time, though, was different. She wasn't facing jail time or probation. She wasn't facing the judge in a criminal proceeding, knowing that she was going to jail and her life would never get any better.

She wasn't alone this time, either. Sitting just behind her was her uncle Dean. She turned and smiled at him, relieved to see him smile back. If he was smiling, then maybe this would be okay. Maybe her heart wouldn't be ripped out of her chest in a few minutes like she was afraid it would be.

At the other table sat someone that Caroline had been distant from for a very long time. Her father Sam. Sam was looking everywhere but directly at her. Caroline thought about walking over to the table and asking if they could just work something out. This was ridiculous. But before she could say or do anything, the judge was called.

"All rise."

Caroline stood, her heartbeat picking up yet again. She hadn't thought it possible her heart could race any more than it already was. She just prayed that she wouldn't be sick.

"You may be seated."

Everyone sat, and time seemed to crawl. Caroline's friend, who was also her lawyer, quickly poured her a glass of water and practically forced her to take it.

"It'll make you stop shaking."

The judge finally began. "We're here for the matter of Winchester vs. Winchester. The plaintiff, Mr. Samuel Winchester, is seeking sole physical custody of the minor child, his granddaughter, Kelsey Winchester. The defendant, who currently has custody, is the child's mother, Ms. Caroline Winchester. Does everyone agree with the summary of this case?"

"Yes, your honor." Both lawyers responded.

"Good." The judge turned to the room and delivered her decision in a tone that made Caroline wonder if it could've been any more monotonous. "I've carefully reviewed all the evidence that both lawyers have put in front of me. To summarize, I simply don't have enough information to make a decision. I am holding this matter over for a more detailed hearing."

Caroline couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. She'd hoped the entire case would be dismissed today. It was crazy to her. Neither Sam nor her mother had never had anything to do with Kelsey before filing for custody of her. Why did they want this now? Why couldn't they have just come to Caroline first and asked to see Kelsey?

Unfortunately, things were about to get worse.

"Until the time of the hearing, however, I am granting the plaintiff's request."

Caroline couldn't comprehend the words she was hearing. Surely the judge wasn't saying…? Her lawyer jumped up and confirmed Caroline's fear.

"Your honor, I must strenuously object to this."

"On what grounds, Mr. Patello?"

"Multiple grounds, your honor. Mr. Winchester has only met this child once. She isn't even aware that he's her grandfather. My client has a steady job, a good home, and takes excellent care of Kelsey. To grant him custody like this is cruel and unwarranted, your honor."

"Mr. Patello, your client was caught consorting with a known drug user."

"There's an explanation for that, your honor…"

"All of which can come out during the trial. Which has been put on the docket for sixty days from today. Sit down, Mr. Patello."

Reluctantly, he did so.

"From now until the conclusion of trial, I hereby award sole custody of the minor, Kelsey Winchester, to her grandparents, Samuel and Jessica Winchester. Her mother, Caroline, will be allowed supervised visitations for four hours a week at the home of Samuel and Jessica Winchester. This order goes into effect immediately."

The next hour was a haze for Caroline. She somehow got out of the courthouse and into her uncle's car, then to the house without breaking down. Her lawyer followed her, trying to apologize over and over and promising her that he'd try to get the decision reversed. Caroline said nothing until she saw Kelsey playing on the front lawn of her next door neighbors house. Kelsey, upon seeing her mother, flew over to her and into her arms.

"Mommy!"

"Hi, baby!"

"Mommy?" Kelsey asked, pulling out of the hug quickly. "What's the matter, you're crying."

Caroline took a deep breath and wiped her face. Sam's car pulled up, and he and Jess got out. Caroline got an idea, and whispered it into her uncle's ear, who nodded and walked inside. Kelsey, seeing the couple she'd only met once before, drew a little closer to her mother.

"Kelsey? Do you remember me telling you that I had to go see a judge today?"

"Yeah."

"Do you remember what it was about?"

"About me. Me living with you and uncle DeeDee."

"That's right. Well, the judge thinks that it would be safer for you to stay somewhere else for a little while."

"Stay where?"

Sam cleared his throat. "With us, sweetheart."

Caroline had steadfastly ignored Sam ever since the decision had come down, but she snapped at his interruption. "You'll have her with you in a few minutes, just shut up and let me talk to my daughter, please."

"I don't want to go with them. I want to stay with you."

"And I want that too, honey."

"I don't even know them."

"Well, sweetie, I didn't tell you this at first, but they're your grandparents."

Kelsey stopped and stared at Sam and Jess before looking back to her mother. "You mean they're your mommy and daddy?"

Caroline nodded. "That's right, sweetheart."

"I still don't want to go with them. Why can't I stay with you?"

"I would want nothing more than that in the entire world, baby. But right now, you have to go with them. Mommy will see you in just a couple days, okay?"

"No…"

"Kelsey Marie, listen to me. Okay?" Caroline said, stroking the tearful six-year-old's hair. "Has Mommy ever lied to you?"

"No."

"I promise you, everything will be okay. You will be safe with them, and they will be good to you. But right now, I need you to be a big, brave girl for me. Can you do that?"

"I can try."

"That's my girl. Can you go inside and help uncle DeeDee pack a couple changes of clothes for you? Mommy will bring the rest of them when I come see you."

"Okay."

Ten minutes later, Sam's car was pulling away from Caroline and Dean's house, and a tearful Caroline was fiercely gripping Dean's hand. Kelsey had started crying, and when Dean whispered to her that it would be okay, that they'd figure this out, just like they'd figured everything else out, Caroline finally lost the battle and hit her knees, weeping.

She'd known that her father was done with her. She'd known that he doubted she'd been clean and sober from drugs for six years. But she could never, in her wildest dreams, imagine that he'd hate her enough to have her baby taken away from her.


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter sheds a lot of light onto why the relationship between Sam and Carrie devolved like it did. But, as with life, not everything can be explained in one simple chapter. In true Winchester fashion, Carrie’s had a lot happen to her that would have killed any normal person. I’m issuing a general warning here-**

**There are descriptions of injuries in this chapter, as well as detailed descriptions of the results of a car accident. Proceed with caution.**

Dean was pissed. No, he decided. Pissed wasn’t a good enough word. Livid was better. He felt as if every nerve in his body was on fire and there was nothing to put it out.

Kelsey had been gone for only a few hours, and the house had never been emptier. Caroline was usually gone for work by six in the morning, so she would wake up Kelsey before leaving and Dean would get her ready for school. Caroline would pick her up from school, and Dean would be home in time for dinner.

It was the closest he’d ever really had to kids of his own.

Dean had been married once, but it just hadn’t worked out. He and his ex-wife didn’t hate each other. Quite the opposite. The two of them were good friends, they just weren’t compatible as husband and wife. Caroline had actually joked once that the two of them had the friendliest divorce she’d ever seen. Carmen and her current husband Jack actually come over once in a while to have dinner with him and Caroline and Kelsey. They were to Kelsey ‘aunt Carmen and uncle Jack’.

Now, thanks to Sam, it looked like all that was falling apart.

Caroline hadn’t fallen asleep until the early hours of that morning, and only then from pure exhaustion. She’d eventually stopped crying and come inside, but her emotional fuse was short. Dean could tell she was operating on autopilot. At seven-thirty, she’d stood up from the couch and walked to the bathroom. Only once she was running the water did she and Dean realize what she was doing.

She was running the water for Kelsey’s bath.

The rest of the night had gone the same way. Caroline would get up and start to do something, then stop when she’d realize Kelsey wasn’t there. Dean felt like crap for it, but he’d been relieved when Caroline eventually fell asleep a little after three in the morning, if just for a few hours break from watching her fall apart.

Dean took another sip of his less than desirable coffee. Caroline usually made it, and refused to tell him how she did it, but when she did Dean thought it was the best tasting coffee he’d ever had. But no matter how bad the coffee was, it wasn’t as bitter as their current situation.

A knock at the door brought Dean’s attention away from his coffee. The knock was familiar, two knocks, a pause, and three short knocks following, so Dean didn’t get up.

“It’s open!”

“Hey, Dean.”

“Hey, Chris.”

It was Caroline’s friend and lawyer, Chris Patello.

“How’s she doing?”

Dean sighed heavily. “She didn’t get to sleep until after three. She’s still upstairs.”

  
“You guys aren’t going to work?” Chris asked. He pointed towards Dean’s coffee cup. “You mind?”

“Help yourself. Carrie didn’t make it, though, and it tastes like sludge.”

Chris laughed. “It’s okay. I’ve had worse at the office.” As he poured his coffee, he asked again, “Work?”

“I took a couple days to be here with Carrie. Jack told her to take all the time she needed.”

“I get that.” Chris said. He sipped his coffee and grimaced. “You weren’t kidding.”

“Told you.”

“Man, I just don’t get it. Nothing here makes any sense.” Chris said. “Dean, I’m sorry, dude.”   
  


“Don’t be. You did your best. We never could’ve afforded the kind of help you gave her.”

“I owe everything I have to Carrie. This is literally the least I could do. And I’m going to get Kelsey back. No matter what.”

“I know you will.” Dean said. “I believe you.”

“Sam’s your brother, right?”

Dean scoffed. “Supposedly.”

“What happened with you two?”

“Hey guys.”

Both men jumped. Neither had heard Caroline get out of bed. But there she stood in the kitchen, in her pajamas, with a half-formed smile on her face.

“Hey, kiddo. How you doing?” Dean asked.

“I’ll let you know.” Caroline said. “That’s the best I can do right now.”

“Fair enough.”

“Hey, Chris. You drinking Dean’s coffee? You got a death wish or something?”

“Hardy har har. You’re so funny. Not.” Dean answered.

“Actually, I came to talk…”

The doorbell rang again, and all three adults looked at each other. Dean shrugged, and stood up to go answer the door.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Caroline and Chris left the kitchen, and both of them stood stunned when they realized who the new visitor was.

“Sam, get out of here.”

“I just came to talk. Dean, please, I just want to talk to Caroline.”

“Haven’t you done enough?”

“Dean. It’s okay.” Caroline said. “Let’s hear what he has to say.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Chris said. “Any communication should be done lawyer to lawyer.”

“There can’t be any harm in just hearing it. Can there?”

“I guess not. But you don’t commit to anything without a conversation with me.”

“Fair enough.” Caroline said. She turned back to Sam. “What do you want?”

“Can I come in?”

“At your own risk.” Dean said.

Sam stepped inside and Dean noted with a smirk that he sidestepped in order to avoid Dean. Caroline crossed her arms, doing her best to appear as if she wasn’t bothered. But Dean could see it. This was only the third time she’d talked to her father in almost ten years, and she was afraid.

“What are you doing here?” Caroline asked.

“I came to talk.”

“We can talk right here.” Caroline said. “What is it?”

Sam sighed. “Like I said, I just came to talk.”

“Talk about what?” Caroline asked, her already short patience with her father starting to snap. “You’ve already taken everything away from me, what do you want to talk about?”

“About Kelsey.”

Caroline’s face fell. “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine.”

“Really?”

Sam frowned. “No. She cried all night last night and cried herself to sleep.”

“Gee, I wonder why? Could it be because you snatched a six-year-old away from her mother?”

“I understand you’re upset, but I’m trying here. Please don’t be hostile.”

“That’s it.” Dean said. “Sam, get out.”

“Dean…”

“I mean it. You take Kelsey away from us and come here and rub it in Carrie’s face? She has every right to be way more than hostile with you right now. Seriously, Sam, just leave.”

“Dee, wait.” Caroline said. “I want to hear what he has to say. We’re gonna have to cooperate with him, we might as well start now.”

Dean was fuming, but he knew Caroline was right. “Alright, kiddo.”

“Okay. Thank you.” Sam said. He looked cautiously over at Chris. “I get Dean staying, but…”

“He’s not going anywhere.” Caroline said. “You wanted to talk, so talk.”

“Fine.” Sam took a breath and began. “I wanted to tell you that you can come see Kelsey anytime you want.

“What’s the catch?” Caroline asked.

“No catch. Your mother and I talked a lot about it last night after Kelsey went to bed. We want you involved in her life. We’re not trying to cut you out.”

“Taking me to court rather than talking to me about it’s a great way to show me that.” Caroline said dryly. “But go on.”

“I have a proposal. Why don’t you and Dean come for dinner every night rather than having one separate day for visitation?”

Caroline, Chris, and Dean all raised their eyebrows in suspicion, but Dean was the first to say what everyone was thinking. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch. I want us all to be a family.”

Caroline scoffed. “That’s a hell of a word for you to come in here using.”

“Caroline Presley, I did what I did to you for a reason.”

“You’ve said that over and over and over.” Caroline said with gritted teeth. She laughed and turned to Dean, before finally landing the verbal punch. “You don’t even know the full extent of what you did.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Sam asked.

“You’ll find out in court. Same way I found out that you decided you wanted to keep running my life when it was convenient for you.”

Sam shook his head. “Everything’s always everyone else’s fault with you.”

“Carrie, listen.” Chris said, taking his friend’s hand to calm her. “As much as I’d like to slug this asshole right now, you need to keep any communication with him civil and limited to Kelsey. You don’t want to give him any more fuel to go after you with.”

“You’re right.” Caroline agreed. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and turned back to Sam. “Thank you for the dinner invitation. I’ll have to talk to my lawyer about it.”

Chris squeezed her hand, signaling that her answer was perfect.

“Okay. That sounds great. I can expect you at six tonight, then?”

“I was planning on five. Since I’ve got four hours and eight o’clock is Kelsey’s bedtime. Is that okay with you?”

“That’s fine. Your mother will be happy to see you.”

Despite her effort to be civil, Caroline couldn’t help the slip. “But you won’t. Typical.”

Sam pressed his lips into a thin line. “I’ll see you at five.”

With that, Sam turned and left. The hurt from the day before was beginning to ease the slightest bit. The thought that she might be able to actually see Kelsey much more than once a week was invigorating. She turned to Chris with a hopeful look.

“Is it a bad idea?”

“I can’t tell you not to do it. But be careful. I don’t buy the whole ‘want to be family’ act. I feel like there’s something else up his sleeve.”

“Me too.” Dean answered.

“You’re coming with me.” Caroline reminded him.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I don’t know if I can be there with your father.”

  
“Then don’t do it for him. Do it for me and Kelsey.” Caroline begged. “Please, uncle Dean. You’re the only one that makes being around him bearable.”

Dean’s lips went into almost exactly the same flat line that Sam’s had. He didn’t want to do this. With all his might and soul, he didn’t want to do this. But Carrie was his baby girl, and she needed him. A memory floated to the surface, from years earlier, and Dean knew what he had to do.

_Seven Years Earlier_

_The monitors beeped, and Dean thought his heart couldn’t possibly hurt anymore than it already did. No one had seen Carrie for longer than five minutes in months. She would stop by Dean’s or his mother and father’s, have a meal, take a shower, and get some sleep, then take off again when no one was looking._

_Carrie had been, in Dean’s description, “one hell of a special kid” right from birth. She’d been two and a half weeks late coming, and had resisted two separate attempts to induce labor. She had decided, Jess had said a week before she was born, that she would come when she was ready and not one minute before that. When she had been born, she hadn’t cried, instead choosing to stick a thumb straight into her mouth and go right back to sleep. She had been three months old the first time Dean had even heard her do more than whimper. She’d been crazy smart. She’d actually skipped a grade and was a freshman in high school at age twelve. She was bright, beautiful, and, being the only grandchild in the family, was the apple of everyone’s eye._

_All that had changed two weeks before Christmas the year Carrie had turned twelve._

_Dean remembered the day in vivid detail. He’d been at work, working the overnight shift at the shipyard, when he got the call. Carrie had been walking to school, when a car that was speeding at over eighty miles an hour had hit her head on. The car had crashed into the brick wall just outside Carrie’s school. Carrie herself had been thrown into the air, slammed into the wall behind her, and then had finally landed on the pavement, a broken and bloody mess._

_Somehow, she hadn’t died on impact. The damage was extensive to say the least. The doctors, fearing the amount of pain Carrie would be in, had put her into a medically induced coma to ride out the worst of her recovery. She’s been unconscious for nearly three months._

_But the worst was yet to come._

_Carrie had no memory when she woke up. Not just of the accident, but anything. She couldn’t remember who she was, who her parents or Dean or her grandparents were, nothing at all from her life. She couldn’t read, she couldn’t write, she couldn’t walk. She could do basic things-feed herself, use the bathroom, dress herself. She could talk a little, but her words were barely understandable and she got frustrated easily._

_The accident had caused irreversible brain damage, and Carrie was back to the level of a toddler. It took almost four years for her to get back to the point where she could just about keep up with her peers._

_Sam had been in an extreme case of denial. In the beginning, he was encouraging, but that encouragement started to turn to denial that anything was substantially wrong with Carrie. Instead of calming her when she’d get frustrated, or comforting her when she cried at her lost memories or the loss of the independence she should’ve had as a twelve, thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen year old girl, he would tell her to stop crying and ‘just do it already’._

_Not surprisingly, Dean thought, as soon as Carrie was able to actually go back to school, she turned to drugs._

_Carrie from age sixteen to seventeen had been some of the toughest times for the entire family. The fights between Carrie and Sam exploded, and more than once Carrie left her parents and spent days with her uncle or grandparents. It had been John, Sam and Dean’s father, that found out definitively Carrie was using drugs._

_Sam had wanted to force her into rehab, but when Carrie refused to go, Sam had made it clear. If she refused to go to rehab, then the day she turned eighteen, she would be homeless. Sam’s sentence had led to a fight between John and Sam, and after a long discussion where John had threatened some things to Sam that weren’t really anatomically possible, he’d made the family’s position clear to Carrie._

_“We love you. All of us love you, despite some of us apparently not being able to show it. You will never be without a roof over your head or food to eat. But if you are caught doing drugs in any one of our houses, we will call the police. If you steal from any of us, we will call the police. You will face the legal consequences of any actions that you take. Again, we love you and we care about you. But we will not enable you. Do you understand?”_

_Carrie had sworn up and down that she did, but a week later, she’d run away. She’d come back, swearing she was off drugs, but she’d run off again. After the cycle had been repeated three times in six months, Sam had changed the locks on his house and refused to let her in again._

_At nineteen, Carrie was homeless and living on the streets. Dean and John and Dean’s mother Mary had all begged and pleaded with her to come to them, but she refused. Trying to force her had only led Carrie to run even further, so the three of them had all agreed to leave her alone and hope that she’d eventually find her way back._

_Find her way back she did. John and Mary had died in the three years Carrie had lived on the streets, and somehow Carrie had shown up to both their funerals, only to be kicked out by Sam. Dean had pleaded with her again to just ‘come home’ after he’d buried his mother, but her reply had nearly broken Dean._

_“I don’t have a home.”_

_For seven months, Dean had gone to his niece. He’d left her food, warm clothes, and notes saying ‘uncle Dean loves you’ and tracts for rehabs. He’d written a long letter to her promising her that she could come back anytime, that he’d help her get off the drugs and find a job. She’d have a home with him as long as she needed it. But Carrie had just ignored him._

_Until seven days ago._

_Three days ago, he’d gotten another call just like the one he’d gotten the day of the accident. A Jane Doe had been found underneath a bridge, beaten to a pulp. She had no ID, and the only thing that had even been found on her was one of Dean’s letters. He’d left a phone number for Carrie to call him, and that was how the police had found him._

_Carrie had two black eyes. She’d been kicked multiple times in the head and all over her body, and Dean worried that with the damage to her brain from the car accident that this time there might not be any coming back. Luckily, she didn’t need help breathing, but she had yet to wake up. Her condition deteriorated slowly, and Dean wondered if she was simply slipping away._

_Then the doctor delivered another bombshell. Every day, the nurses had come to get blood, running tests to see the levels of drugs that were in Carrie’s blood. They were trying to find ways to ease her detoxing while she was unconscious, but to do that, they had to know exactly what was in her system. The blood test had revealed something else other than drugs, though._

_Carrie was pregnant._

_He got an idea. Dean picked up the phone and called Sam. He hadn’t done it yet because he’d been worried Sam could hamper Carrie’s recovery if he came in and just lectured at her. But since Carrie seemed to still be unconscious, he’d called Sam and put the conversation on speaker. He’d urged Sam to come to the hospital immediately, ending the plea with a desperate, “Sam, your daughter’s dying. Don’t be stupid and not tell her you love her.”_

_Sam’s response had chilled Dean to the bone, and it had frozen any relationship the brothers might have had from then forward._

_“My daughter’s already dead, Dean.”_

_Dean had taken the phone and smashed it into pieces then, but his heart slammed in his chest when he heard a sniffle. Carrie’s eyes were open and tears were dripping down them._

_She’d heard everything._

“Dean? Please go with me.”

“Alright, baby girl. I’ll go.” Dean said.

“Thank you.”

“I’m gonna go now, guys. I’m gonna try to find a way to reverse this.”   
  


“Chris? Thank you again.”

“Don’t thank me, Carrie. I mean that.” Chris said. “I gotta get to work.”

Once Chris had left, Carrie and Dean tried to find ways to make the time not seem to crawl by. Finally, four forty-five came, and Carrie found herself facing something that terrified her more than anything had in a very long time.

Dinner with her parents.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a long time since Caroline had seen her parent’s home. She hesitated to call it her own after so many years of not feeling welcomed there. The house wasn’t the largest in town, but it was close to it. There was two floors, the top of which was made of four bedrooms. One of the rooms, of course, belonged to her parents. One of them, at least when she lived at home, had belonged to her. The other two were guest rooms, although Caroline never remembered them actually having company.

Her main thought as she walked up to the door brought a tear to her eye. She wondered what room Kelsey was sleeping in.

The scene inside the house just ten minutes earlier had been one that Caroline never would’ve believed if she hadn’t seen it. Her mother was finishing up with dinner. She’d made all of Caroline’s favorites that she remembered. Barbeque chicken. Spaghetti. Homemade mashed potatoes and gravy. She was just finishing up when Sam came to join her.

“Everything looks great, babe.”

“Thanks.” Jess said. She took another look at the food and nodded, satisfied. “Do you think this is enough?”

“If you’re planning to feed a small army, maybe.” Sam said.

“I just want things to go well tonight.”

Sam frowned. “I don’t thing you should expect too much.”

“Sam, don’t.” Jess warned. “I mean it. We’ve done enough to Caroline…”

A frustrated Sam slammed his hand onto the counter in frustration. “I am sick and tired of hearing about what _we’ve_ done to Caroline. What about all that she’s done to us?”

“Like what?”

“Like the constant running away. The fights. The arguing. The mood swings. The drug use…”

“She did all of that because she was hurting, Sam.” Jess argued. “She was hurting in a way that none of us understood. And you didn’t even try.”

“I didn’t…”

“Look, stop, okay. Just stop. I don’t want to have this fight with you right now.” Jess said, pointing to the entrance to the kitchen. Kelsey was standing there staring at them. “Hey, sweetie.”

“Is my mommy coming?”

Jess could see Sam tense up, and she grabbed his arm to stop him responding and possibly snapping at Kelsey. Kelsey had asked several times over the course of the day when her mommy was coming, and Sam was not known for his patience.

“She’ll be here soon, love.”

“That’s what you said…”

“Kelsey, do you know how to set the table?” Sam asked.

The still slightly frightened little girl swallowed. “Yes, sir.”

“Let’s do that, then. Grab the glasses, please.”

“Kelsey, it’s okay, sweetheart. Those glasses are too heavy for you. Granny’ll take care of it.”

“What should I do, then?” Kelsey asked.

“Why don’t you go to that big couch in the living room and see how far you can count before your mommy gets here?” Jess asked.

Kelsey smiled. “Okay. I can count all the way to a thousand!”

“That’s impressive!” Jess said.

Kelsey beamed under the praise. She was scared with these people that she barely knew, but Granny seemed nice. Really nice. “I’m gonna count slow. So maybe Mommy will be here before I finish.”

“That sounds like a good plan.”

When Jess turned back to Sam, she noticed the unhappy look on his face. “What’s that look about?”

“That’s what Caroline used to do to wait for me when I came home from work.”

“Yeah. It is. Back when we didn’t have to manipulate her to talk to her.” Jess said.

“That’s not fair.”

“None of this is fair.” Jess responded. “None of it.” She checked the clock and pointed at the dishes. “Will you help me set the table, please?”

“Yes.”

“Sam, please. I’ve gone along with your plan so far. I’m just asking that you be nice to her tonight. That’s all.”   
  


“Sure.”

“Sam, I mean it.” Jess said. “Be nice to her.”

Before Sam could answer, a high-pitched delighted squeal came from the front room, followed by the sound of the front door opening and closing. Jess smiled, smoothed the front of her dress, and walked out.

Her stomach was fluttering. She hadn’t seen Caroline for almost seven years. Not since that night that haunted her dreams.

_Seven Years Earlier_

_Jess hadn’t felt this happy in a very long time._

_It was her and Sam’s wedding anniversary. He’d taken her out for dinner, which she expected, then taken her out on all the places they’d been for their first, second, third, fourth, and finally fifth date, the one where Sam had proposed._

_That she hadn’t expected._

_As they walked back to the car, Sam had an arm around Jess, and Jess felt a connection to Sam she hadn’t felt since right after they were married. It was a nice feeling, and if they could hold onto it, Jess believed that things might actually get better._

_How wrong she was._

_They were walking back through the park when she felt it. Sam tensed beside her and started walking very quickly towards the car. Jess started to tell him to slow down when she saw it too. A girl, very thin and pale, walking in the park and looking around as if she was panicked. Jess stopped in her tracks._

_“Caroline?”_

_The girl heard Jess and turned, then stood as frozen as Jess was. She took another look around and ran towards them._

_“Mom!”_

_“Caroline, what are you doing out here this late, sweetheart?” Jess asked._

_“Mom! Dad! You gotta help me! Please!”_

_“Caroline, your mom and I are on the way back home right now…”_

_“Please. Please, I’ll do whatever you want, just please take me home with you.” Caroline begged. “I need you.”_

_“You’re high.” Sam said. “You’re high right now.”_

_“I’ll go to rehab, I swear, just help me, please…”_

_“Sam, maybe we should…” Jess started._

_“No. I made it clear to her. She may be able to come home when and if she completes a drug rehab.” Sam said. “But she has to get into it and do it on her own.”_

_“Please, please, please just let me come home.” Caroline begged._

_“The answer’s no.” Sam said again._

_A desperate Caroline turned to her mother, tears in her eyes that were beginning to fall in panic. “Mommy, please…”_

_Jess was torn. This was the closest she’d been to Caroline in years. She was making an important first step, admitting she needed help. But as Caroline looked around the park wildly in every direction, Jess realized Sam was right. She simply didn’t have the emotional or physical energy anymore to deal with Caroline. If they brought her home and put her in rehab, she’d likely just leave it._

_“I’m sorry, baby.”_

_“Mom? Mom, no, please.”_

_“Sweetheart, I’m sorry. Your father’s right. You can’t come home right now.” Jess said. “We have to go now.”_

_  
Though her heart was shattering as she left, Jess just kept walking. She was grateful that Caroline didn’t chase them, but that didn’t make her pained cries of ‘Mom, come back’ any less painful. Sam opened the door for her, and less than sixty seconds later, both of them were driving away. The last fleeting thought Jess had, in an attempt to get her mind off Caroline, was how strange it was for anyone to be jogging after midnight._

When Jess made it to the door, an excited Kelsey was practically vibrating with excitement in Dean’s arms. It made Jess jealous, nostalgic for the times that Caroline would hug and kiss her the same way. Kelsey had offered Jess a short hug when she woke up that morning, but other than that, she’d avoided any type of physical contact whatsoever. She had been nice and polite with both Sam and Jess, but distant. With time, she hoped, that would change.

Caroline turned and faced her mother. Despite her feelings for her father at the moment, Caroline felt differently about her mother. Where Sam had been too hard and unrelenting with her growing up, sometimes forcing her to do more than she was physically or mentally able to in a day, Jess was comforting and soothing for a child who most days could barely function. Without her mother’s comforting presence, Caroline had often wondered if she would’ve ever lasted as long as she did.

“Hi, Mom.” Caroline replied, with a half smiled that creeped up to her face slowly. She walked up and offered Jess a short hug, then turned and finally greeted her father. “Dad.”

“It’s good to see you, Caroline. Thanks for coming.”

Caroline felt a bristle coming. She hated her name, which was the reason most people called her Carrie. Before she could answer, however, Kelsey, who was still nestled securely in Dean’s arms, jumped a little.

“Wait! Mommy, I made something for you. Can I go get it, please?”

“After dinner, Kelsey.” Sam said. “Go wash your hands. Your mom and uncle can go help you.”   
  


_Gee, thanks so much for giving me permission to help my daughter wash her hands,_ Caroline thought sarcastically. She was quite proud when the thought stayed in her head where it belonged. “Come on, baby.”

“Bathroom’s this way, Mommy.” Kelsey said, taking her mother’s hand.

“I think I remember where it is.”

“I meant it, Kelsey. Five minutes. I want you at the table with your hands washed.”

“I heard you!”

Caroline didn’t even think, just responded automatically to Kelsey’s attitude. “Kelsey Marie. Manners.”

Kelsey pouted a bit and hung her head. “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry, Grandpa.”

Sam, stunned that Caroline had backed him up on anything at the moment, nodded. “Apology accepted, Kelsey. Go on.”

Caroline and Kelsey immediately went up the stairs, Kelsey babbling to her mother about anything that came to her mind. Jess and Sam stayed behind with Dean, who held a scowl on his face that felt as if it was turning permanent.

“Dean?” Jess said, trying to break the tension of the room. “It’s good to see you too.”

“I wish I could say the same, Jess.”

“Dean, no.” Sam interjected. “You can be as pissed off with me as you want. But not Jess.”

“Disrespect?” Dean breathed, the very thought that _that_ was the heart of the issue here digging into Dean’s skin. “Are you kidding me?”

“Dean, don’t start, please.” Sam pleaded.

“What the hell happened to you, man?” Dean asked. “How’d you turn into such a heartless bastard?”

“Please, you two, please, _please_ don’t fight. I’m begging you here.” Jess said. “Look, Dean. I get it. I know why you’re mad with us and I understand it.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.” Jess answered. “Yes, Dean, I do. I see it now. How much Kelsey loves her mother.”

“That’s not even it.” Dean said. “That’s part of why I’m pissed off with you, yes. But I’m mostly pissed because now that Carrie’s actually doing well, she actually has a decent life and friends and stable job and a half-grown kid, _now_ is the time you want to show up and be there for her.”

“Dean, I know…”

“You don’t know a damn thing.” Dean seethed. “You don’t know a damn thing about watching Carrie shiver under a bridge because it’s in the forties outside and she’s too damn stubborn to even come over and sleep in the truck with the heat running. You don’t know about watching her look around and try to make sure no one’s watching before she takes a bag that you’ve dropped off with food and clothes and _hoping_ she actually uses all of them. You don’t know about being there to help her through withdrawals, through labor and delivery, staying up with her through midnight feedings because she’s terrified she’ll hurt the baby.”

“You’re right…”

But Dean wasn’t anywhere close to done. “And you don’t know about watching _your_ kid break down and it tearing your heart up when she asks you to adopt her kid so her, and I quote, ‘worthless disgusting ass’ won’t screw up her kid. You and Sam put that thought into her head, Jess. I’ve done a lot of shit in my life, and I’m the last one to judge anyone for making mistakes. But you two take the cake on all of that.”

“We’re done!” 

Kelsey and Caroline coming down the stairs immediately put an end to the argument between Sam and Jess and Dean.

“Are they clean, uncle DeeDee?”

Dean put on a fake smile and pretended to examine the hands closely. “They’re perfect.”

“Let’s go eat, everyone.”

Dinner was surprisingly pleasant. Kelsey was so excited to have her mother with her that she chatted long past the time desert was over. Dean was relieved to find Caroline smiling again, and hoped it would happen every night when they all had dinner together. He still wasn’t fond of the idea of seeing his brother every night, but he definitely wasn’t okay with Caroline being there alone.

“I’m finished. May I be excused?” A sleepy Kelsey asked.

Caroline took a look at the clock. “Oh, my goodness, honey. No wonder you’re sleepy. It’s past your bedtime already.”

“Can you put me to bed, please, Mommy?”

Caroline sighed and looked to Sam, who nodded and answered quietly. “It’s alright.”

“You got it, kiddo. Come to the car with me and help me get the rest of your clothes.”

Even with Caroline stretching out Kelsey’s bedtime routine, an hour later the tired little girl was yawning as she lay in her bed. Caroline had promised to stay there until Kelsey went to sleep, and Kelsey was headed that direction very fast.

“Time to go to sleep, baby girl.”

“’m not seepy.” Kelsey mumbled.

Caroline chuckled. “Of course you’re not.”

“Mommy, don’t leave tonight, please. What if I have a bad dream?”

Caroline wondered if there was any other way her heart could be trampled on lately. “Just go to Granny, honey. She used to help me through bad dreams.”

“Why can’t I come home?” Kelsey asked.

“Shh. Listen to me. We talked about this yesterday. The judge thinks that for right now, you’d be better off with Granny and Grandpa. I don’t agree with him, and we will go back to court to settle it.”

Kelsey swallowed hard and nodded. “Okay, Mommy.”

“Are they treating you okay?”

“Granny’s nice.” Kelsey said. “But Grandpa’s kinda grumpy.”

Caroline smiled. “Yeah. He is that way. But I want you to behave for them just like you do for me and uncle DeeDee, okay?”

“I’ll try, Mommy.”   
  


“That’s all I can ask.” Caroline said. She kissed Kelsey’s forehead and laid down next to her. “Close your eyes, sweetpea. Do you want me to sing to you or tell you a story?”

“Story, please.”

“Any requests?”

“Um, my day I was born.”

Caroline laughed. “You got it.” It was one of Caroline’s favorite stories, as it was one of her clearest memories after going through rehab, finding her job, and just generally getting her life on track for the first time, so she happily recounted it again for Kelsey.

_Six Years Earlier_

_“Ugh. Come on, kid. Please.”_

_Dean, standing at the sink after finishing up the dishes from dinner, laughed. “Don’t rush her. She’ll be here quick enough.”_

_“I know.” Carrie said. She grabbed a package of crackers on the table and opened them._

_Dean threw the dishrag down into the sink and gave a pretend annoyed huff. “We just ate dinner!”_

_“Blame the cub.” Carrie said with a smile. “She’s starving.”_

_Dean smiled, and, for the thousandth time in the months since Carrie had finished rehab and moved in with him, Dean took stock of her. She was no longer a constant deathly pale color. Her eyes were vibrant and alive, not sunken in and barely registering any sign of awareness. Most importantly, for Dean, her appetite was massive. She ate constantly, apologizing at times for it, but Dean saw it for what it was._

_Caroline was coming alive again._

_“I’m proud of you.” Dean said sincerely._

_Caroline smiled, but before she could respond, something happened. Her stomach cramped slightly, and she doubled over with surprise._

_“You okay, kiddo?”_

_“Yeah.” Caroline said. “I think it’s time.”_

“And then I came later?” Kelsey said with a long yawn.

“You came at exactly midnight.” Caroline said. “The doctor wasn’t sure what to put on your birth certificate for your birthday.”  
  


“And you told him to put that day.”

“I think you know this story better than Mommy at this point.” Caroline said.

“Love you, Mommy. Night night.”

“Goodnight, my sweet girl.”

Five minutes later, when she was certain that Kelsey was sleeping, Caroline reluctantly got up and left the room. She left the door cracked and walked back downstairs, where she found her parents and Dean standing in an unsettling silence.

“You ready to go, kiddo.” Dean asked it like a question, but Caroline could tell it wasn’t one.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Caroline said, grabbing her jacket from beside the door.

“Why don’t you guys stay for coffee?” Jess suggested. “We’ve got a lot to catch up on.”

“No thank you, Mom.” Caroline answered. “I’ve got work in the morning.”

“Tea, then?” Jess asked, unsuccessfully hiding the desperate undertone in her voice. “Just fifteen minutes, Caroline. Please.”

“Jess.” Sam whispered. “Don’t push…”

“I said no, Mom.” Caroline answered firmly. “The answer’s no.”

“I just want a little time with you.” Jess pleaded. “Please.”

“No.” Caroline said. “I’m not doing this, Mom. I’m not gonna pretend like everything’s okay. It isn’t. I don’t understand why you and Dad did this. Why, instead of coming to me and asking me to talk, asking me for some kind of a relationship with Kelsey after that first dinner we had together, you would have her taken away from me.”

“You haven’t changed.” Sam said. “You keep saying you haven, but you haven’t.”

“That known drug user you told the judge I was hanging around with? She just got out of rehab. She meets with me once a week so I can help her get back on her feet.”

“Why would you have anything to do with that kind of life again…?” Sam asked.

“Because that’s my job!” Caroline shouted, before catching herself and deliberately lowering her voice to avoid waking Kelsey. “I work at a drug and alcohol treatment center. Not that you’d know that.”

“That’s why I want us to talk. I want to know these things, sweetie.” Jess said.

“Then why did you never come to find out, Mom?”

“I know we didn’t, sweetie…”

“Please don’t call me that.” Caroline said. “Just don’t, okay? I stopped being your sweetie that night you left me in the park.”

Jess looked down, not sure what to say to that.

“And you.” Caroline said, turning to Sam. “I have one thing to say to you. I heard every word of that phone call Dean made when I was in the hospital. Every. Single. Word. I woke up with two black eyes, broken bones, cuts and bruises, but you sure found a way to hurt me worse than all that.” Before Sam could respond, Caroline said firmly, “I will be civil for the sake of my daughter. But when I get her back, that’s it. We’re done. Dean, let’s go.”


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I’m so sorry that this update took so very, very long.

“All rise. Court is now in session.” 

Caroline’s routine had become exactly that. Routine. Whereas before she would go into work whenever she was ready, as long as it was before nine in the morning, she arrived every single day now at eight in the morning. She left exactly at three, ran any errands that were needed for the house, and would arrive at her parents at exactly five. She spent an hour playing with Kelsey and talking with her about school. Dean would arrive between five and six. They’d all have dinner together, Dean and Caroline would put Kelsey to bed, and the process would repeat itself the next day. 

Sam never tried to make any kind of conversation with Caroline. Jess tried each night, and Caroline finally started staying for tea with her mother. The conversations were short and somewhat clipped in tone, but Caroline genuinely appreciated her mother’s efforts. Jess had been willing to answer almost any of Caroline’s questions. What had she and Sam been up to since the last time they’d all been together? Jess asked questions of Caroline too. When was Kelsey’s birthday? What kind of foods did she like to eat? What kind of things did she like to do? What did Caroline’s job at the drug counselling center entail?

All in all, Caroline’s relationship with Jess was going back to as normal a state as it could. Except for one thing.

The second Caroline asked what Sam was doing with the custody suit, Jess shut down and changed the subject. 

So, while Caroline was grateful that her mother was trying, she was still complicit in what Sam was doing. 

The first surprise of the day came when the judge entered the courtroom. A different judge was now in charge of the case. Judge Richard Young was significantly younger than the judge of the first hearing. The bailiff instructed everyone to sit, and Caroline swallowed back the lump in her throat. Chris took her hand and squeezed it briefly, and finally the hearing began. 

“We’re here for the case of Winchester vs. Winchester, a custody hearing. Am I correct?” 

“Yes, your honor.” Both lawyers answered immediately. 

“Very well.” The judge folded his hands and looked out into the courtroom. “This is how this will work. This is not a criminal trial. I’ve been a family court judge for quite a few years now. Custody cases are always full of heightened emotions. Everyone’s upset, and everyone is certain that they’re right. Here’s the problem. I am not here to determine who’s right in this argument. I am here to determine what is in the best interests of the child we are here to talk about. We will remain, above all, civil. All of us. It’s okay to get upset, but we will keep composure and order in this courtroom. Does everyone understand?” 

“Yes, your honor.”

“Very well. As far as questions go, this is how it operates. This is not a criminal trial. Both sides have given me a list of their witnesses. Each lawyer will call their witness and ask their questions like normal. But I have my own list of questions for each witness, and if I don’t hear either lawyer ask one or more of the questions I’m looking for, I will be asking them myself. Am I clear?” Before giving anyone the chance to answer, the judge simply nodded his head and turned towards Sam’s lawyer. “Mr. Lincoln, feel free to begin.” 

Though Caroline listened to Sam’s side of the case as it was presented in the court, she was mostly looking for Sam to be called to the stand. In the first two hours they were in court, witness after witness testified that Sam would be the ideal guardian for Kelsey. Friends of Sam’s, neighbors, some of which Caroline recognized and some of which she didn’t, all said the same thing. 

Sam was taking great care of Kelsey, and deserved the chance to raise her in a safe, structured home, where she’d be given opportunities Caroline could only dream about. 

Judge Tyler, when the last witness before Sam was dismissed, took a look at the clock. “I think now is a good time for a break. We’re dismissing for a one-hour recess.” 

At the bang of the gavel dismissing everyone for lunch, Caroline jumped. Chris made sure his papers were organized in front of him, then turned to Caroline. Just as he started to say something, Dean approached them. He was the first to notice. 

“Kiddo? Come on. Talk to use. Why are you crying?” 

Caroline, of course, knew she’d been crying, but had been so buried in her thoughts that she hadn’t thought about how public her tears actually were. Dean took a seat and sat next to her as Sam finally left the courtroom, nothing but a fleeting look back at Caroline. 

“Tell me. What’s going on?” Dean urged. 

“He’s almost convinced me.” Caroline said. “If he’s convinced me, what chance do I have to get her back? Or why should I even try?” 

“Hey. Look at me.” Dean said. “Caroline, I mean it. Look at me. Now.” 

Caroline looked up from her hands, which she’d been studying intently in order to avoid looking up into the courtroom. The only time she’d seen that look on Dean’s face had been two weeks after Kelsey had been sent to live with Sam, when Dean had found her in a position she’d never expected to be in again. 

Six Weeks Earlier

“Carrie? I’m home, kiddo.” 

Dean had been surprised to get there and find Caroline’s car still parked in the driveway and her jacket on the chair in the living room. It was five minutes past the time they were usually at Sam’s for dinner. He’d planned to text Caroline that he was going to skip it that night, but if she was running late too…

Dean stopped when he heard a sound coming from Caroline’s bedroom. It was one he’d heard before, and his stomach turned. She was crying. Dean knocked softly and opened the door, worried about what he’d find when he did. Caroline didn’t disappoint. She was sitting on the bed, holding Kelsey’s teddy bear with her cell phone in front of her. She was staring at a video taken of Kelsey just a few weeks before.

“Hey, kiddo. What’s going on?” 

Caroline didn’t answer at first, just paused the video and put the phone down in front of her. She opened her text messages and handed the phone to Dean. Dean read through the messages quickly, his anger flaring up. The only thing that stopped him from flinging the phone was reminding himself that it wasn’t his.

“Son of a bitch.” 

Sam had apparently ‘decided’ that the nightly dinner visits were ‘too much’ on Kelsey, and he wanted to stop them. Kelsey was having ‘a hard time staying asleep’ every night, and would ‘throw tantrums’ if her mother wasn’t there when she woke up in the middle of the night. Which was every night. 

Dean wanted to call and rip into Sam and call him on his bull. Kelsey hadn’t thrown a tantrum since she was three and a half. She’d gone through a stage from three until three and a half throwing tantrums frequently. Time-outs and spanking didn’t work and in the end made the problem worse. The one thing that did work, Dean had discovered by accident, was picking Kelsey up and putting her in her room, and making it clear that she couldn’t come out until she could ‘talk to me and Mommy like the pretty little lady you are’. 

The first time he’d done it, Kelsey had screamed and cried in her room for nearly two hours, trying to get Dean to come and get her. 

The second time, she’d stopped crying and apologized after forty-five minutes. 

The third time, after ten minutes, she’d come to Dean and Caroline, eyes puffy from crying, her little fist rubbing her eyes, and told them both seriously, “I sorry. I won’t scream no more.” 

And she hadn’t. Whenever Kelsey was mad now, she asked to be excused to sit in her room to ‘be mad by myself’, and generally came out after a few minutes happier and ready to go. Dean had found her room a mess quite a few times after those incidents, toys strewn about and construction paper ripped up, but he simply told her to pick up her room and that was that. 

Of course, with all the stress of moving, it was more than possible that Kelsey had reverted back to her old ways. The thought that she was fighting Sam tooth and nail brought Dean nothing but joy into his heart. 

“I’m sorry, kiddo. Do you want to go anyway?” 

Caroline shook her head. “What if he tells the judge on me or something?” 

Dean wanted to say ‘so what’, but he knew Caroline was right. “I’m sorry.” 

“I called him and he wouldn’t pick up. I called Mom and she wouldn’t either.” Caroline said. “I just don’t get it. What did I do wrong?” 

“You haven’t done a damn thing wrong here. Nothing.” Dean assured her. 

“I thought about doing it today.” 

“Doing what?” Dean asked.

“Calling Jake.” 

Dean’s heart froze. “Carrie…” 

“I didn’t do anything.” Caroline assured him. “I didn’t. I swear.” 

Dean nodded. “Okay. I believe you.” 

“But I thought about it.” 

“Thinking about it isn’t bad.” 

“Yeah, but it’s the first time in a long time I really wanted to.” Caroline explained. “I came really close.” 

“Do you want to go to a meeting tonight?” Dean suggested. “

Caroline nodded. “Yeah. I think I need to.” 

“Want me to go with you?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Okay. What time does it start?” 

“In an hour.” 

“Let me get a shower. Then we’ll go.” Dean said. “Hey, kiddo. I’m proud of you. You know that?” 

Caroline gave him a weak half-smile. “I know.” 

“I’ll be out in a minute.” 

“You listening?” Dean asked. 

“I’m listening.” 

“You and only you are Kelsey’s mother. We are leaving here with her, and she is coming home. Understand?” 

“How can you be so sure?” Caroline asked. 

It was Chris that answered that one. “Because your dad might have the big house and the money and all the material stuff to provide Kelsey, but you’ve got family and a support network backing you up a thousand percent. Besides, there’s already one major problem with your dad’s case, and I think his lawyer knows it.” 

“There is? What?” 

“Didn’t you hear the testimony from Kelsey’s teacher?” Chris asked. 

“No. I think my mind was drifting a little bit.” Caroline answered honestly. 

“She said that Kelsey was struggling in school ever since she went to live with your father, and before she’d been a perfect student.” Chris said. “That shows that she’s struggling where she is…” 

“She’s having problems in school?” Caroline asked. “Why wouldn’t they tell me?” 

“Carrie, stop.” Chris said. “I need you to stay focused. No more not paying attention or letting your mind drift. Okay? The best thing you can do right now is stay focused. Can you do that?” 

“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.” 

“Good. Now, unless your dad’s lawyer has got some sort of surprise up his sleeve, this is what happens from this point on. Your dad’s gonna testify when we come back. That’ll probably be the longest testimony of the day. We’ll probably be dismissed after that. Then that means tomorrow…” 

“Our turn.” 

“Our turn. Exactly.” Chris said. “You ready?”   
“As ready as I can be.” 

“Good. Come on, let’s all go get some lunch. We’ll need it.”


	5. Chapter 5

_I can do this._

Caroline had repeated that phrase over and over to herself in the hour that everyone had been out to lunch. Dean and Chris had tried to cheer her up, but her mind was stuck on one thing. Getting Kelsey back.

She’d refused to believe in the possibility that she _wouldn’t_ get Kelsey back. Kelsey had been the push she needed to realize that her life was worth living. The thought that their current arrangement would remain the same just wasn’t possible.

Sam had been called to the stand, and his walk from the table to witness stand seemed to take forever. For the first time, Caroline kept a close eye on him. Though she’d seen Sam several times in the sixty days since they’d first been here, looking at him now was the first time she’d actually taken a decent look at him.

Sam looked much older than she remembered him at eighteen. Admittedly, her memory from that time in her life was fuzzy, but she remembered her father as an energetic, larger-than-life man with a soft voice on normal days, but who could scare the paint off the walls when he was angry. She remembered him as always being a fit man, one that took pride in taking care of himself.

For the first time, Caroline saw the truth. Life had not been good to her father. He looked twenty years older. His hair had flecks of white that she hadn’t noticed before. His face had a sad look that seemed to be a permanent part of his features. For a selfish moment, this realization made Caroline happy. Whereas her life, for the most part, had gotten better day by day since Kesley’s birth, Sam’s seemed to have stalled. But mostly she felt pity for Sam.

Caroline knew that the current relationship between her and her father wasn’t entirely her fault. She had started it, she knew, with the drug use at eighteen. But she’d tried. She’d worked her butt off in rehab. She’d contacted her father three times while in rehab, and three more times once she’d gotten out and before Kelsey was born. After a seventh voicemail message went unanswered, Caroline had finally written her father a letter. She remembered every word of it by heart.

Finally, the moment of dread came. Mr. Lincoln stood up and began Sam’s questioning.

“How are you today, Sam?”

“I’m doing well. Thanks.” Sam answered.

_Is he nervous?_ , Caroline wondered.

“We all know why we’re here now. We’re here because you think that your granddaughter will have a better life being raised by you and your wife. Am I right about that?”

“Essentially, yes.” Sam said.

“Essentially? Am I missing something?” Mr. Lincoln asked. “If I am, please illuminate us.”

“I think my granddaughter will have better opportunities living with me and my wife.”

“Could you explain what you mean by opportunities?”

“I haven’t told her yet, but my wife and I were talking about, should we win this suit, enrolling Kelsey in private school next year.”

“I see. Are there any other things you’re hoping to do for her?” Mr. Lincoln asked.

“A few.” Sam said.

“Could you elaborate for us, please?”

“Sure.”

There was the accusation again. Kelsey was better off living with Sam. She could go to a better school, live in a bigger house, all kinds of advantages that Caroline hadn’t thought about.

Sam recounted the story of her accident, and how she had suffered lifelong problems as a result of it. That was completely true. Caroline’s memory from before age twelve had never returned, and her short-term memory was terrible. She suffered back problems from being thrown against the wall the way she had, problems that would likely be with her through the rest of her life.

The questioning continued, and Caroline tried to keep herself calm. She focused on her breathing, and for a while, it seemed to work. But Mr. Lincoln arrived at a line of questioning that Caroline had been dreading.

“Mr. Winchester, can you tell me why you sought this suit? What it was that made you seek custody of your granddaughter?”

_Finally,_ Caroline thought. She had been wondering that herself, but too afraid to ask the direct question. Dean, who had, with the judge’s permission, moved to the table with Caroline after everyone returned from lunch, made a fist at the table. For the first time since the whole ordeal had started, Caroline had to comfort Dean. She reached over and placed a hand on top of his, and Dean relaxed. A little. Sam shuffled a little in his seat again and began.

“A few weeks before I decided to file the suit, I ran into Caroline in town. She was buying birthday party decorations. It was awkward at first, but Caroline was very cordial. She told me that Kelsey’s birthday was coming up, and the decorations were for her birthday party.”

“Did she ask if you wanted to come to the party?”

“No. I thought about it, and I did ask her if she minded if her mother and I came.”

“What did she say?”

“She said that she was sorry, but she thought it would be a little awkward for us to just show up at Kelsey’s birthday party when we’d never met her before.” Sam answered.

“I see. Did she say anything else?”

“She invited us to dinner. Which I took her up on. She was waiting for us when we pulled up, and she asked us if we minded if we were introduced to Kelsey as friends of the family first. My wife said she didn’t mind, but I did. We fought about it a little at first, then Caroline snapped at me that if I wanted to see her daughter, it would be on her terms or not at all.”

And with that, Caroline was back to being angry. She well remembered the conversation Sam was talking about, and she definitely knew she hadn’t snapped at him for it.

_Ninety Days Earlier_

_Caroline sat on the front porch steps with Kelsey, who was throwing a bouncy ball directly in front of her and catching it. Caroline made sure to lightly praise her every time she caught it, and to encourage her when she didn’t. Finally, after a few minutes, she saw it. The nice car that stuck out like a sore thumb in their neighborhood pulling up in the driveway._

_“Kelsey, go inside, honey.”_

_“Okay, Mommy.” Kelsey said._

_“Listen, get uncle Dean to help you wash your hands.” Caroline said._

_Kelsey pouted mightily at that. Her newfound independence streak was being threatened, and she didn’t like it. “I can do it by myself, Mommy.”_

_“I know you can do it yourself. But just for tonight, let uncle Dean help.” Caroline said firmly. “Do you understand, young lady?”_

_Kelsey frowned. “Yes, Mommy.”_

_Caroline softened a little. “Hey. Just for tonight, okay? I need you to keep uncle Dean inside for me.”_

_Kelsey smiled. “Okay!”_

_“That’s my good girl. Go on.”_

_Kelsey ran back inside the house, and Caroline waited patiently for her parent’s car to stop. She hadn’t seen her mother in years. Jess seemed to look very similar to the way Caroline remembered her, with the biggest difference being a little bit of white in her hair. Jess smiled widely when she saw Caroline, and Caroline walked over to the car. Jess was laughing and the tears of joy streaming down her face almost made Caroline change her mind._

_Almost._

_Sam lowered the window and for the first time in years, Caroline saw that he was smiling. It didn’t escape her that he wasn’t smiling at her, but at her mother being so happy. Oh, well, Caroline decided. She’d take what she could get._

_“Hi, sweetie.” Jess said._

_Despite being so worried, Caroline smiled. “Hi, Mom. It’s good to see you.”_

_“You too.”_

_“I wanted to talk to you guys about something before we go inside.”_

_“Okay. Sure.” Jess said._

_Caroline took the dive. “I don’t want to tell Kelsey who you guys are yet.”_

_Jess’s smile fell, and Sam gripped the steering wheel. “You said…”_

_“I said that I wanted you guys to come for dinner, and I meant that. I do. But I don’t want to just drop the bomb on Kelsey that you two are her grandparents. I want to kind of ease her into it, you know?” Caroline explained._

_She risked another look at her mother. Jess seemed sad, but she nodded her understanding. She’d felt blessed that Caroline would even want anything to do with her after so long, so she was more than willing to wait._

_“Mom, I’m sorry…”_

_“Don’t be. Kelsey’s your kid. If you want us to wait, we’ll wait.” Jess said. “We’ve got the same name, though, what did you want to introduce us as?”_

_“I was thinking just as old friends of mine and Dean’s? Aunt Jess and uncle Sam? Then after a couple meetings, tell her that you’re actually her grandparents?”_

_“That’ll work.” Jess said._

_Caroline smiled. “Thanks, Mom. Come on inside.”_

“So your daughter basically invited you over, making you think that she was inviting you back into her life, then refused to really let you into your granddaughter’s life?”

“That’s right.”

“You son of a bitch!”

Dean’s loud outburst from beside Caroline startled not only her, but the judge, Chris, the bailiff, and everyone else in the courtroom too.

“You’re lying…”

“Mr. Winchester!” Judge Tyler snapped, then immediately softened his tone when Dean turned to face him. “Mr. Winchester, I need you to remain calm.”

“Your honor…”

“No. I mean it, Mr. Winchester. I understand that everyone’s emotions are charged right now. I get that, I honestly do. But I will have order in this courtroom. Everyone will get a chance to speak, but I don’t want to have to hold you in contempt. Your niece needs you right now. What’s more important right now, making a point or supporting her?”

Caroline saw Dean swallow hard and look back down at her. She squeezed his hand and smiled. _I need you,_ she mouthed to Dean. Dean nodded and turned back to the judge.

“I apologize, your honor.”

“I understand.” Judge Tyler said. “Don’t let it happen again. Mr. Lincoln, are you done questioning your client?”

“Yes, your honor.”

“Do you have any other witnesses?”

“No, your honor.”

“Very well. Mr. Patello, your witness.”

“Thank you, your honor.” Chris stood up, fighting to keep his composure. “Mr. Winchester, you mentioned that Caroline snapped at you that night.”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me what she actually said? Verbatim?”

“Objection, your honor. Asked and answered.”

“Mr. Winchester has answered how he felt his daughter treated him that night. I’m looking for the exact words she used so that you can judge for yourself, your honor.”

Judge Tyler thought for a few seconds before answering. “Overruled. Answer the question, Mr. Winchester.”

Sam swallowed. “She said she didn’t want to drop the bomb on Kelsey that we were her grandparents.”

“Was she angry when she said this? Did she yell at you, did she demand it?”

Sam frowned. “No. She was very polite.”

“Did she actually tell you that you had to follow her rules, or you couldn’t see Kelsey?” When Sam took an annoyed breath, Chris realized he’d finally pressed on a nerve and he fully intended to keep pressing as long as he would be allowed. “Did she tell you that, Mr. Winchester, or did you assume that?”

“I assumed that.”

“I see.” Chris went back to the table and pulled out some papers. “Mr. Winchester, before you saw your daughter in town that day, how long had it been since you’d spoken to her?”

“Seven years.”

“I see. How many times, Mr. Winchester, in those seven years, did you attempt to reach out to your daughter?”

“None.”

“And how many times has she reached out to you?”

“I’ve lost count.”

“Luckily, I haven’t.” Chris said. He brought the papers forward to the judge. “This is evidence, your honor. Permission to approach the bench?”

Judge Tyler nodded and reached out for what Chris was holding. As Chris handed a copy to Sam’s lawyer, Mr. Lincoln objected when he realized what it was he was looking at.

“Objection! Relevance.”

“I promise this is relevant to the point I’m making, your honor. I’m just asking for a moment to make it.”

“Overruled, though just slightly. Make your point Mr. Patello.”

“Yes, your honor. Thank you.” Chris turned back around and finally handed the third copy of the papers to Sam. “Mr. Winchester, were you aware that your daughter keeps paper copies of all her bills?”

“No. I wasn’t aware.”

“She does. She also keeps track of every phone call she’s ever made and makes note of the basics of what that call was about. Can you take a guess at why she does this?”

“It’s probably because of her memory problems.”

“Exactly.”

Chris said ‘exactly’ with a smile that, on the surface, seemed like he was congratulating a student on giving him the correct answer to a problem. But Caroline recognized that tone in his voice, and her suspicion was confirmed a moment later when Chris turned to look at her and rolled his eyes and winked. _He’s an idiot._

“Can you do me a favor, please, and read the dates at the top of the first page? Tell us when these stacks of phone bills start?”

“They started a little over seven years ago.”

“Look at the numbers highlighted, Mr. Winchester. Are they all phone numbers where you can be reached?”

“Yes.”

“Why are there so many of them?”

“Because they’re my home, work, and cell numbers.”

“I see. I also noticed that each call is under one minute in length. Do you know why that is?”

Sam swallowed. “I didn’t pick them up.”

“Right. Let me save you a little time, Mr. Winchester. These phone records span six months. There are sixty-three calls from your daughter and your brother that went unanswered. Are you still telling us that you didn’t feel you had an adequate opportunity to get to know your granddaughter?”

Sam glared at Chris and didn’t answer.

“Don’t worry. You don’t have to answer that. I wouldn’t want to either. One more thing, Mr. Winchester.” Chris went back to his briefcase and pulled out another piece of paper “Do you recognize this letter, Mr. Winchester?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t hear you.” Chris said.

“I said yes. I recognize it.”

“When did you receive it?”

“Five years and eight months ago.” Sam replied.

Chris feigned surprise at the preciseness of Sam’s response. “How are you so sure about that timeline, Mr. Winchester?”

“Because Kelsey was three months old when I received it.”

“It was after all those attempts to reach you by phone, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Please read it to us, Mr. Winchester. Every word.”

Sam glared and looked up at the judge, who simply shook his head and pointed at the letter. Sam read as quickly as possible, hoping to get it over with, before the judge slowed him down and made him read it over.

_Hi Daddy._

_It’s been a long, long time. I know there’s a lot of hurt between the both of us. I know I caused it. I’m sorry, Daddy. I know you don’t believe me, but I am._

_I’m doing good now. I’m out of rehab. I’m officially seven months clean today. I have a good job. I got my GED and I’m looking at community college courses. He doesn’t like it, but I help Dean with groceries and keep the house clean for him. I help with as many of the bills as I can._

_I tried to call and tell you I was pregnant. I don’t know if you got the message and ignored it, or if you didn’t get it. Either way, it’s okay. I put a picture in here for you._

_Her name is Kelsey Jessica. Daddy, she’s so beautiful. When she was born, she was a little tiny, only six pounds. She had a full head of black hair, and lets you know when you’re not paying her enough attention. She’s three months old today._

_I’m not asking for anything from you, Daddy, except to be my daddy again. I just want you and Mommy to be in my life and in Kelsey’s. I want her to have grandparents like I did._

_I won’t chase you though, Daddy. I’m not going to beg anymore. I want you in my life, but I’m giving you the choice. I’m here at Dean’s for now. I’m not planning to move anytime soon, but I promise if I do, Dean will know where to find me, and if I ask him to, he’ll tell you. If you still don’t want anything to do with me, and only want to be in Kelsey’s life, I’ll let that happen too. You can come over and see her here with Dean and I’ll leave._

_I still love you, Daddy. I hope you can say the same about me, but I understand if you can’t._

_Love,_

_Carrie_

When Sam finished, Caroline felt Dean’s hand on hers again. He was squeezing it. She had never told him that she’d written to Sam. She wasn’t hiding it from him, she just hadn’t thought to tell him in the days of midnight feedings, going to community college classes, and getting her life back in order.

“So, just to recap. Your daughter, who had been homeless and addicted to drugs and was now not only completely sober, but had finished high school, was working on college courses, and working full time, all while taking care of a brand new baby, tries more than sixty times to contact you and ask you to get back in her life. And years later, after no word at all from you, you just ask to come back in her life, and when she sets a couple of very reasonable restrictions on you, you sue her and take away her child. Is that right, Mr. Winchester?”

“No.”

“It’s not? Then please, correct me where I’m wrong.”

“I sued when I caught her…” Sam clamped his mouth shut when he realized what he’d been about to say, but the can of worms were already opened.

“When you caught her? Caught her what, Mr. Winchester?”

“When I caught her on the street with that drug dealer.”

Chris nodded. “I see. And how did you happen to catch her, Mr. Winchester?”

“I was following her.”   
  


“Sorry? I didn’t hear that.”

“I was following her, okay?”

“And how long were you doing that?” Chris asked.

One of the most basic things Chris had ever learned as a lawyer was to not ask a question you didn’t already know the answer to. Surprises in court were not something that helped your case. But Sam’s answer shocked even him.

“I’d done it ever since the dinner.” Sam admitted. “I wondered if there was something she didn’t want us to know, and I would follow her when she was out at night. I found her talking to the drug dealer, and I filed the suit the next day.”

“So, you filed suit rather than just approaching your daughter and asking her who it was she was approaching?”

“Yes.”   
  


“Would you like to know?”

“Objection!” Mr. Lincoln interjected. “He doesn’t need to testify for his client, your honor.”

“Sustained. Mr. Patello, you can ask your client when she’s on the stand.”

“Yes, your honor. That’s all. Thank you.”

“Very well, Mr. Winchester. You’re dismissed.”

Sam left, and Caroline checked the clock. It was only 1:30.

“I think that’s a good time for a break. Fifteen minutes.” Judge Tyler said. “Mr. Patello, is your next witness ready?”

“Yes, your honor. Our next witness is Dean Winchester.”


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey folks! In this chapter, Dean gets questioned, both by Chris and Sam’s lawyer. This chapter is long and mostly dialogue, so I don’t really put labels on the end of a lot of the dialogue. By that, I mean that I don’t say “Dean said” or “Chris said” at the end of every line. That gets laborious to read in a long conversation. If you _follow closely_ , it’s easy enough to tell who said what, so skimming isn’t really a good idea in this chapter, and probably the ones that come after it. **

Dean approached the witness stand, wishing he didn’t have to answer questions. He wished he could just rip into Sam and yell at him, tear him apart limb from limb. He’d always wanted to do that, ever since Sam had refused to come to the hospital when Caroline had been beaten. He’d decided that night, as he sat on Caroline’s bed trying to comfort her, that if Sam didn’t want to be her father, he would just have to do it himself. When he’d taken his seat, Chris cleared his throat and began.

“Hey there, Mr. Winchester. How are you doing today?”

“I’ve had better days.” Dean answered honestly.

“You and your niece are pretty close, aren’t you?”

“We are.” Dean said. He turned to Caroline and smiled. “I’m crazy proud of her.”

“Can you tell us, briefly, what your relationship has been like with her?”

“Objection!” Mr. Lincoln exclaimed. “Relevance. We’re here to discuss Ms. Winchester’s relationship with her daughter, not her uncle’s relationship with her.”

“I can’t establish what my client’s relationship with her daughter is like without exploring the person who is the majority of her support system, your honor.”

“Overruled. I’d like to hear this. Answer the question, Mr. Winchester.”

“Well, we had a typical uncle and niece relationship when she was little, I guess.” Dean said. “Her parents went out on a date night every Friday, and she’d spend the night with me.”

“What kind of a kid was she?”

Dean laughed. “She was energetic. Most of the time, when her parents would bring her over, I’d just be getting off work. She’d let me rest a little bit, but after that it was time for uncle Dean to play.”

“How would you describe her as a kid?”

“She was a little mischievous, but she mostly just wanted you to pay attention to her.”

“How long did these weekly sleepovers go on?”

“Every week until she was around ten. After that, it was around every other week.”

“I know this is hard for you to talk about. But can you tell me about the accident we’ve heard so much about? What exactly happened that morning?”

“Objection. Your honor, Mr. Winchester can’t say what exactly happened, he wasn’t there.”

“I’m simply asking for his recollection of that day, your honor. What he _does_ know.”

“Overruled.” Judge Tyler said. “Relax a little, Mr. Lincoln.”

Mr. Lincoln looked distinctly displeased at the warning from the judge, but he sat back and listened.

“I got a call at work. It was Jessica, Caroline’s mom. She was crying, saying that Carrie had been hit by a car on her way to school.” Dean shuddered thinking about the memory. “She was…bad.”

“What do you mean, bad? Exactly?”

“She had broken bones. There were vertebras in her back that were damaged. The doctors were afraid she had brain damage.”

“What did they ultimately decide to do?”

“They decided to put her in a medical coma.” Dean explained. “She just had so many injuries that they wanted her to sleep through the worst of it.”

“How long was she in the coma?”

“A little over three months.”

“What was it like when she woke up?”

Dean sighed and recapped the story.

_Fifteen Years Earlier_

_The moment was here. The doctors had learned weeks earlier to not ban anyone from Caroline’s room. Everyone was excited. Caroline had been unconscious for months now. Someone had been with her twenty-four hours a day. The majority of the time it had been her mother, who talked to Carrie, read to her, bathed her, washed her hair, and assured her that ‘all of us are here for you, baby’._

_The doctor entered the room and fought the urge to kick everyone out. It just wasn’t worth the argument anymore. He checked on Caroline’s vitals, and for the first time since he’d put her under, all was completely normal. He turned to the nurse who’d accompanied him into the room, nodded, and then turned to the family._

_“We’re about to start the process. Remember, just because we’re taking her off the drugs that we used to put her under, doesn’t mean she’s going to wake up right away. She could still stay asleep for a while.”_

_“We understand, doctor.” Mary said._

_“Okay. We’re starting the process now.”_

_Caroline stayed asleep another twelve hours. No one wanted to leave the room. All wanted to be there when she opened her eyes. All of them, even though they wouldn’t admit it, had their view of what things would be like once she woke up. The doctor had made it clear she still had a long way to go, but everything would be okay as long as the family stood by her._

_Caroline had her own plans._

_Eventually, the doctor chased all of them except Sam and Jess out. If she wakes up, he told them, it would overwhelm her anyway to have everyone there. He promised them they could be there the next day._

_The next day was when everything started to take a turn for the unexpected._

_Dean got another call early in the morning, again from Jess. Caroline was awake, but she had clearly suffered brain damage. She was having trouble speaking, and having trouble focusing. Dean tried to be comforting, reminding Jess that the doctors had warned them all of that was possible._

_“Dean, there’s something else.” Jess said._

_“What?”_

_It had taken a day before Dean felt even halfway prepared to face it. But every day after that, he came to the hospital and swallowed down any grief he was feeling. The old Caroline was gone. She had no memory of who she was, who her parents were, her grandparents, or her uncle. That little preteen girl who only four months earlier had been worried about starting high school and whether or not she’d do well was no more._

_Dean couldn’t focus on that._

_In front of him was a kid that was completely broken down mentally. She needed someone to be strong for her so she could build herself back up. So, for the fifth day in a row, Dean came down to the hospital room, this time with flowers in his hand. When he walked in, he found something that gave him a little hope. Caroline was in the middle of an argument with her parents._

_“I’ll be fine.”_

_“We’re not leaving you.” Jess insisted._

_“Hey, guys.” Dean said as he opened the door. “What’s going on?”_

_“Caroline seems to think she’s well enough to be left alone.” Sam said. He turned back to Caroline, irritation brushing the same features that just days before had seemed to be permanently etched in worry. “We are not leaving. Stop arguing.”  
  
_

_Caroline took the notepad she’d been holding in her hand and threw it down on the bed. She was pouting, frustrated again with her inability to communicate with her parents clearly. What no one seemed to understand was that while Caroline was having trouble talking, reading, or writing, she could think very clearly. They were smothering her. Every time she moved, they were there, hovering. When she went to the bathroom, her mother wanted to go with her to make sure she was okay. When she ate, Sam wanted to ‘help’ by feeding her, when she was perfectly capable of doing it herself. She just wanted a few minutes to herself._

_“Guys, why don’t you take a break? Go get some dinner or something?” Dean suggested._

_“We said no, Dean.” Sam said. “She’s just frustrated.”_

_Caroline turned her eyes on Dean, and Dean could see it. She was frustrated like Sam thought, but her mind was all there. Her memories might not be working, but her brain was._

_“She is frustrated, Sam. She’s feeling smothered. Am I right?”_

_Caroline, relieved that someone was finally understanding her, nodded._

_“She doesn’t understand…”_

_“She understands just fine, Sam. She’s having trouble talking, not hearing.” Dean snapped. “Jess, please. Just give her a half hour.”_

_Jess, who was standing directly next to Carrie, looked down and frowned. “Is that true?”_

_Caroline swallowed hard and nodded. She still didn’t completely trust any of the people claiming to be her ‘family’, but of all of them, this lady claiming to be her ‘mother’ seemed very sweet and kind. Caroline was still sleeping most of the day, and she would wake up to find Jess standing over her, stroking her hair or making sure she was as comfortable as she could be. Caroline didn’t really want Jess to leave, at least not for good. She just wanted a few minutes where she could take a deep breath. Caroline nodded and worked hard to form the word she needed to say._

_“Sorry.”_

_Jess smiled. “Don’t be sorry. It’s okay. We’re gonna go for a walk, okay?”_

_“Thank you.”_

_“You’re welcome, honey.” Jess said. “Love you.”_

_Caroline frowned. She still didn’t know how to feel about these people who still felt like strangers to her telling her they loved her._

_“You don’t have to say it back.” Jess said. “Not until you feel it too. I get it, okay?”_

_Caroline smiled, trying to stop her eyes from turning glassy with tears. Jess smiled again and kissed Caroline’s cheek, before gently grabbing a very unhappy Sam’s arm and leading him out of the room. Dean took a chair._

_“That better, kiddo?”_

_Caroline nodded._

_“I brought you something.”_

_Dean had brought a bag inside with him, and he pulled out a bouquet of various pink colored flowers-roses, lilies, and daisies. Caroline’s face instantly changed. She smiled the way Dean remembered. Big and bright, her smile lit up the whole room. She reached out and took the flowers, turning them over and looking at each one closely._

_“Pretty.”_

_Dean chuckled. “Well, that answers that question.”_

_Caroline’s eyebrow raised in confusion._

_“You’ve always really liked pink flowers.” Dean explained. “I usually give you a bouquet just like that every year on your birthday.”_

_“My birthday?” Caroline asked._

_“It’s not your birthday now. You still got about six months to go for that.” Dean explained. “But I think you’ve earned it.”_

_Caroline’s smile faded away, and she put the flowers on the bed in front of her. She ran her fingers over them, and she finally let loose the tear she’d been trying to hide from her mother. Dean took her hand, making Caroline wipe her face and turn away from him._

_“Talk to me, kid.”_

_Caroline turned a glare on Dean that seemed to pierce into him._

_“Just try your best and take your time. What are you thinking?”_

_Caroline took a deep breath and focused. She closed her eyes and thought about what she wanted to say. She wanted to cry and throw things around the room in her frustration, but that would be no help. The doctor was trying to be encouraging. He’d told her that she was a special case. Most people who’d been through what she’d been through would have been dead on impact. Your brain will catch up, he’d say. Her memories may or may not come back, but her body still needed time to catch up. She was regaining her ability to talk slowly, and if she tried to rush it, it would only hinder her recovery._

_Caroline knew what she wanted to say, and she finally drew out the words as best she could._

_“There’s no me.”_

_Dean heard the words but he didn’t quite understand. “What?”_

_“There’s no me.” Caroline said again. “I should know.”_

_Then Dean got it. She was upset because Dean had to tell her that she liked pink flowers and that her birthday wasn’t close. She’d had to be told all the things over the past week that she would normally know. Her name. Her age. Her parents and grandparents and uncles names. Why she was in the hospital. The foods she’d liked to eat before. Absolutely everything was brand new to her._

_“I’m sorry, kid. I wish I knew how to help you.”_

_“They love me.”_

_“Who does? Your mom?”_

_Caroline nodded. “But I don’t feel it.”_

_“You don’t feel like you love them?”_

_“I don’t know them.”_

_“Listen to me. That’ll take time. We all understand that. You just focus on getting better. Okay?”_

_“You not mad?” Caroline asked._

_“Why would we be mad?” Dean asked. “Because you don’t remember us?”_

_“I don’t know how to love you back.”_

_“That’ll take time too. Don’t worry about that. We’re here for you, no matter what. Got it?”_

_“Got it.”_

_“Now let’s put those flowers in some water, huh?”_

“Thank you, Mr. Winchester. Can you briefly describe what happened next?”

“Carrie recovered, but it was slow. It took two weeks before she was able to speak without any trouble. She had to learn to read and write all over again, plus she had to basically do all of her schooling again.”

“And how long did that take her?” Chris asked.

“She was well enough and caught up enough to go back for her junior year of high school.”

“So she was seventeen?”

“Sixteen.” Dean corrected.

“So from twelve and a half until age sixteen, your niece went from having trouble talking, walking, reading, and writing, to being a fully functioning high schooler.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Wow. Can you tell us what happened after that?”

Dean’s face took on a dark look. He turned towards Caroline uncomfortable, who simply smiled at him and nodded. _It’s okay._ That was all Dean needed.

“She started acting strange.”

“Strange how?”

“She wouldn’t come home until five or six at night. When she did get home, she wouldn’t answer any questions about school or what she was doing coming home so late.”

“What would happen when she wouldn’t answer those questions?”

“She’d get in some pretty vicious fights with her dad.”   
  


“What do you mean vicious? Did they ever turn physical?”

“Not to my knowledge. But Sam would never let up. Even when Caroline would back down and apologize, and take whatever punishment he’d give her, he’d harp on it for hours or days.”

“Did the situation ever improve?”

“No.” Dean said. “It didn’t.”

“When was the first time Carrie was homeless?”

“The day she turned eighteen, Carrie moved out of her parent’s house and in with my mom and dad.” Dean said.

“Were your parents any less strict with Carrie than your brother?”

“No. They made her help them keep the house up, and made it clear she’d have to either get a job or go to college.”

“What happened from there?”

“My father got a report from a friend that Carrie had been seen on the street buying drugs. We had a family meeting that night.”   
  


“Who’s we?”

“My parents, me, Jess and Sam. We talked about what to do about Carrie.”

“Did all of you agree?”   
  


“No. Her father wanted to tell her it was rehab or the streets. That if she was using drugs she couldn’t live any of us.”

“What was the ultimate decision?”

“My father told her that she was loved, and that she would always have a roof over her head. But if she was ever caught using drugs, or doing anything illegal, she’d face the legal consequences of her action.”

“Did she?”

“Yes. She ended up going to jail twice. Once for theft, when she stole some money from my parents, and once for possession.”

“How old was she at this point?”

“When she got out of jail the second time, she’d just turned nineteen.”

“Did she come back home?”

“No. I tried to tell her to come back, live with me or my parents, but she wouldn’t.”

“Did she say why?”

“Yes. Her father had changed the locks and told her she couldn’t come home until she was sober.”

“Did he offer her any help in getting sober?”

“Carrie says he didn’t. I wasn’t there.”

“So from that point forward, she was homeless.”

“Yes.”

“How long was that?”

“Almost three years. She was twenty-two before she had a home again.”

“What happened in those three years?”

“She’d come to my house sometimes, sometimes my parent’s house. She’d get a shower, clean clothes that we all kept for her, a good meal. Sometimes she’d take a nap or spend the night.”

“Did she ever reach out for help?”

“No. She never specifically ask for it. We all offered. But she’d tell us the same thing every time. If her father didn’t love and want her, we shouldn’t either.”

Caroline, for the first time since Dean had started testifying, looked back over at Sam. As far as she knew, Sam had never known she’d said that. His reaction seemed to confirm that. He risked looking at Caroline but turned away again when he saw her face. Chris continued his questioning.

“During those three years, both your parents died. Correct?”

“Yes. My father had a stroke and my mother died after a fall.”

“Did Carrie come to their funerals?”

“She tried. Her father had her kicked out both times.” Dean said bitterly. “After that, I had started going to her every night I could find her. I’d leave her things she needed, leave her notes telling her I loved her and I’d help her.”

“How long did that go on?”

“Seven months.”

“What stopped it?”

Dean took a breath before answering. For him, the night Chris was asking about was the worst night of Dean’s life.

“I got a call from the police. They’d found a Jane Doe in the park, beaten to a pulp almost. It was Caroline.”

“How serious were her injuries?”

“She had been kicked. All over. Her head, her face, her stomach. She had two black eyes. Internal bleeding and brain swelling that needed surgery to fix.”

“How long did it take her to wake up?”   
  


“Days.” Dean said. “A week, if I remember correctly.”

“Why did it take so long?”

“The doctors couldn’t really tell. It was like she was slipping away. Her blood pressure kept going down. Her heart rate kept going down. Not by a lot, but enough the doctors were getting worried.”

“Did you call her father during this time?”

“I called him. I asked him, begged him, to come and be with Caroline. I really thought she was gonna die then. I begged him to just come and tell her that he loved her. She was starving for that.”

“And what was his response?”

“His exact words? ‘My daughter’s already dead, Dean.’”

“I see. Did Caroline overhear him say this?”

“Yes. I didn’t know it when I made the call, but Caroline woke up at some point during it. I got angry at what Sam said, so I threw my phone against the wall and broke it. When I turned back around, Caroline was awake and crying.”

“Thank you, Mr. Winchester. No more questions, your honor.”

Judge Tyler turned to Mr. Lincoln, who appeared to be bouncing with excitement. “Mr. Lincoln? Do you have any questions?”

“I certainly do, your honor.”

“Have at it.” Judge Tyler invited.

Mr. Lincoln stood and faced Dean with a smile that Dean would later describe to Caroline as creepy. “Mr. Winchester. I can tell from your testimony that you love your niece very much. Am I right?”

“Yes. I do.”

“What about your parents? Did they love her just as much?”

“They did.” Dean said. He felt his ire rising, but he kept it inside as best he could.

“I would guess, being the only child in the family, that she was fairly spoiled. Am I right?”

“Maybe a little.” Dean admitted.

“Let me ask you something, Mr. Winchester. I’d like to go back to the story you told earlier about visiting your niece in the hospital after her car accident.”

“Okay.”

“Didn’t you say that before your brother and his wife left the room, he objected to leaving his injured daughter?”

“Yes, he did.”

“And didn’t you say that he wanted to make his daughter go to rehab and you and your parents overruled him?”

“That’s not what happened…”

“Your brother, who is your niece’s _father,_ wanted to deal with his daughter’s drug problem in his own way. You and your parents didn’t agree, so that’s not what happened. Am I right?”

“Caroline’s mother didn’t agree with it, either.”

“Your honor, please instruct Mr. Winchester to answer the question.”

“Mr. Winchester…”

“Yes. It’s true. He wanted to handle it differently and we overruled him.”

“You said that your niece and her father would get into fights. Did she ever come to you after those fights?”

“A few times.”

“Did her father ask you specifically to send her back home when she had those fights with him?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Did you do that?” Mr. Lincoln asked. “When your niece came to you, did you send her back home?”

“Not right away.”

“Why not?”

“Because I thought they needed some time apart. I thought it was good for them to have a little space.” Dean explained.

“I see. So _you_ thought that it would be best for my client to be separated from _his_ child. Was that your decision to make, Mr. Winchester?”

“No.”

“Yet you made it.” Mr. Lincoln said. “Tell me, Mr. Winchester. Why do you have such a habit of interfering in my client’s parenting?”

_Don’t explode_ , Dean reminded himself. “I don’t think I do.”

“Really? Another question, Mr. Winchester. When your niece was five, you and your brother got into a fight. Do you remember what that fight was about?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell us, please?”

“Caroline asked me for a popsicle and I gave it to her.”

“And why was that a problem?”

“Because Sam was trying not to keep her away from sugar.” Dean said. “He didn’t want her to get addicted to it.”

“Not only did you give her that popsicle that one time, but it came out in the course of the fight that you’d done that multiple times. Correct?”

“Yes.”

“So again I ask, Mr. Winchester. Do you make a habit of interfering with my client’s parenting decisions?”

“It would seem that way, yes.”

“And you do that because you believe you know better for his child than he does. Am I right?”

“Sometimes, yes. I think I do.”

“So, is it fair to say, Mr. Winchester, that if you and your parents had respected my client’s wishes for his child, that she might have gotten the help she needed much earlier, and in fact, we wouldn’t be here arguing this case today. Do you agree, Mr. Winchester?”

“Objection!” Chris shouted, jumping up from his seat. “Your honor, that is rampant speculation.”

“I agree, Mr. Patello. But I’m curious to hear the answer. Overruled.”

Dean was fuming now, but again, kept his temper. “Yes.”

“I can’t hear you, Mr. Winchester.”

“I said yes.” Dean answered through gritted teeth.

“No more questions, your honor.”

“Alright. Step down, Mr. Winchester.” As Dean made his way back to his seat, Judge Tyler checked the clock. “It’s four in the afternoon, folks. I think that’s as good a time as any to dismiss for the day. We’ll resume at nine o’clock t


	7. Chapter 7

_I can do this._

Caroline had been saying that to herself, over and over, all morning. Dean would try and tell her that everything would be okay, and Caroline was trying to believe it. But the _what ifs_ were on a vicious cycle in her head.

What if the judge decided that their current situation was the best one?

Would she be able to see Kelsey more?

Would she have to see Kelsey less?

What happened if Sam decided to cut her out of Kelsey's life completely?

Caroline took a breath and shook her head slightly, trying to drive the thoughts out of her head. She knew better than to focus on them. Thoughts like that had fed her drug habit for years, and she chose to focus on the positive things.

She was Kelsey's mother.

Kelsey loved her, and she loved Kelsey.

Caroline was a good person, who'd made mistakes with her life, but she was doing her best to make positive changes.

Caroline was called, and Chris winked at her before he questioned her. Caroline felt something she'd been feeling more and more often over the past few months. Her stomach fluttered and she felt herself blush. But the business at hand was more pressing than any lingering feelings she might have for Chris.

"Hey there, Caroline."

"Hi."

"We've talked about you a lot lately. But you haven't said very much. Why is that?"

Caroline sighed. "I guess I'm used to feeling like I'm not good enough when it comes to my father."

"Can you explain that a little further, please?"

"Sure." Caroline said. "I don't remember what my relationship with him was like before age twelve, but I remember every bit of it from twelve to sixteen."

"Can you tell me what it was like during that time?"

"Constant criticisms mostly."

"Can you give me an example?"

_Fifteen Years Earlier_

_Caroline was excited. It was finally time for her to have a little fun. She was almost done with physical therapy, and she and her mother were planning a party for it. Caroline had decided on what she called a 'fancy party' theme. Everyone would be dressed up to the max, with suit and ties for the guys and dresses for the girls. While John, Dean, and Sam were against the idea, they agreed to go along with it to make Caroline happy._

_The party was in two days, her final physical therapy session in four. Caroline was determined to show her family exactly how far she'd come. Her dream was to dance at the party, with no problems, with her father, uncle, and grandfather._

" _Carrie!" Jess called from the front door. "You ready to go, honey?"_

" _Coming, Mom!"_

_Caroline walked down the stairs with a tight hold on the handrail. Climbing up and down the stairs had been a monumental struggle over the past months, but she could do it now almost as fast as before. Jess smiled, but refrained from saying anything. Carrie had made it clear that while she appreciated the support Jess gave her, too much of it made her uncomfortable._

" _Let's go see what we can find, huh?"_

_The front door opened and Sam walked in. "Hey there, my girls."_

" _Hi, Daddy." Caroline said. "We're going shopping!"_

" _Really? Grocery shopping? Hang on a minute, and I'll go with you."_

" _No. Dress shopping."_

_Sam stopped and turned towards Jess. "Jess, we talked about this."_

" _Sam, look at her, she's so excited…"_

" _Talked about what?" Caroline asked._

_Sam frowned. Again, he had to be the bad guy. "Carrie, I don't think you're quite ready for this."_

" _But you guys promised!"_

" _And you can have your party, honey. We aren't taking it way for good. Just until you're a little stronger."_

" _But…I am stronger than I was." Caroline argued._

" _You can barely stand up for more than five minutes before you have to sit down again."_

" _So when you came and picked me up last time and you said I was doing a good job, what you meant was I wasn't doing good enough." Caroline accused._

_She wasn't angry. She was tired, and she was sad that apparently she wasn't healing fast enough. She'd wanted the party to be an initiation of sorts, a confirmation that she was headed in the right direction._

_Her ultimate goal? One night where she could focus on something that made her feel like she was really a part of her family, and not just a random person that had been dropped into the Winchester mix that everyone was forced to take care of._

" _Carrie, that's not what I meant."_

" _My name is Caroline. I'm going to my room."_

_It felt as if it took forever to climb the stairs back to her room, and by the time she reached it, her back was hurting again. Caroline took her seat on her bed and pulled out the picture that had inspired the idea for her party. In it, her parents were twenty years younger. Jess was dressed in a beautiful pink dress, while her father danced with her in a simple black suit with a pink dress shirt. Sam was spinning Jess around in the picture, and both seemed deliriously happy._

_That feeling was what Caroline wanted. Just for a second, it was all she wanted._

_Her bedroom door opened, and Caroline wiped her face of the tears that threatened to fall. Jess took a seat next to Caroline and waited a few seconds before speaking._

" _You okay?"_

" _I'm fine." Caroline said with a sniff._

" _Somehow I'm not convinced."_

" _Mom, please. I'm fine, just please leave me alone."_

_Jess sighed. "Honey, I'm sorry. Your dad's just worried about you."_

" _Yeah, I know. He's so worried about me that he wants to take away the only fun I've had this whole time."_

" _You know, the whole time your were in the hospital, he was right next to your bed." Jess said. "He talked to you all the time…"_

" _So he didn't always treat me like this?"_

" _Like what?" Jess asked._

" _Like I'm not trying hard enough."_

" _Sweetie, you have done so well with everything you've had to do." Jess said. "And I swear, we will have your party. I won't let your dad take it away for good."_

" _When though, Mom? I just wanted…" Caroline suddenly stopped and shook her head. "Never mind. You wouldn't understand."_

" _Understand what?" Jess asked. "I definitely can't if you don't tell me what you're thinking."_

" _I still don't feel like I'm really part of the family." Caroline explained. "I feel like you guys are only taking care of me because you have to."_

" _That's not true…" Jess objected._

" _It might not be true, but it's how I feel, Mom. All the time. You and Dad and uncle Dean and Grandma and Grandpa, you've all got these memories of me that I can't share. I just wanted to make one that I can have too."_

" _Oh, honey. I'm sorry. I didn't know it meant that much to you." Jess said. She then spotted the photograph Caroline was holding onto. "What's this?"_

" _Picture I found of you two."_

_Jess smiled. "I remember that night."_

_Caroline glared and turned away._

" _Honey, I'm sorry. Is this what gave you the idea for your party?"_

" _Yeah. Doesn't matter now." Caroline muttered._

_Jess started to try and convince Caroline otherwise, but she got a different idea. "Hang on. I'll be right back."_

_Jess left, and Caroline was left feeling miserable for a moment. Maybe things were meant to be this way, and would never get any better for her. She heard her father moving around downstairs, presumably making dinner. He was opening and closing kitchen drawers and cabinets just a little too hard, stopping just short of slamming them._

_By the time Jess had come back, Caroline had put the picture aside and was lying down. She grabbed the large stuffed bunny on her bed that, according to other pictures in the house and her parents, had been her favorite toy ever since she was a baby._

" _Hey."_

_Caroline looked over to her bedroom door, where Jess stood holding something in her hand. It took a moment before Caroline realized exactly what it was. She sat up and her smile returned._

" _Is that the dress from the picture?"_

" _It is." Jess said. "It's pretty small on me now. You want to see it?"_

" _Yeah." Caroline took the dress form her mother and ran her fingers over it. It was smooth and light, and Caroline imagined herself wearing it._

" _Why don't you see if it fits?"_

_Caroline's mouth fell open. "Really?"_

" _It looks just about the right size. If it needs some adjusting, we can do that. Just give it a shot."_

" _Okay."_

" _Do you want me to help you?"_

" _Can you stay out here and I'll call you if I need you?"_

" _Sure, honey."_

_It took her a long time, but Caroline finally came out of the bathroom. She'd washed her hair, blow dried it, curled it, and put a pretty hairbow in it. Through each step, Caroline finally felt like less of a physical weakling and more like a normal girl. Caroline stood in the doorway of her bedroom and waited for her mother to look up at her. Jess seemed focused on the picture in front of her and didn't notice her there, so Caroline called her._

" _Mom?"_

_Jess sniffed and Caroline could've sworn she saw Jess wipe tears away from her face. But whether she saw tears or not, Jess's face lit up when she saw Caroline._

" _Oh, honey. You look beautiful."_

" _Really?" Caroline asked, and couldn't help but twirl around._

" _Yes!" Jess said. "Come here."_

_Caroline walked over and twirled again, the smile becoming stuck on her face._

" _You're gorgeous."_

" _Thanks, Mom."_

_Jess's smile turned a little sad. "I'm sorry about your party, honey. But I think your dad's right."_

" _It's okay."_

" _I did talk to your dad. Your birthday's just a few weeks away. We will for sure do it then."_

_Caroline nodded. "Okay."_

" _And look on the bright side. Since we're waiting, we have some more time to do it up big."_

" _What do you mean?"_

" _Well, we can get flowers, we can find somewhere to hold the party other than here…"_

" _Like where?" Caroline asked._

" _Well, there's a ballroom dance studio here in town. How about we make that your goal? Keep working on your therapy, work real hard in school, and we'll have you a real party."_

Caroline finished up her story. She'd gotten so lost in it that she hadn't noticed Chris was smiling. She was brought out of her own head when Judge Tyler spoke up.

"Mr. Lincoln, I see your knee bouncing over there. Say it."

"Objection, your honor! Way too much narrative here."

Judge Tyler sighed, and seemed torn with his ruling. Caroline looked at the clock and was shocked to find she'd been speaking for more than five minutes.

"Sorry, your honor." Caroline said. She was blushing a little. "I ramble a little when I'm nervous."

"It's okay." Judge Tyler smiled from the bench. "I understand. You remind me a lot of my little sister. She does the same thing. Just try to keep the narrative to a minimum, okay? It's Thursday, and I'd like to have this wrapped up by the weekend."

"Yes, sir."

"I'll give you a tip. Keep the details to as little as you can, okay? If we need more details, we'll ask you to elaborate."

"Yes, sir."

"Alright. Sustained, though just barely, Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Patella, continue."

"Thank you, your honor. Ms. Winchester, that was a lovely story." Chris said. "Did your relationship with your father ever improve?"

"Until I left home, it pretty much stayed the same."

"How about your relationship with the rest of your family? With your mother, uncle, your grandparents?"

"Those were pretty solid. They always encouraged me as much as they could. They let me blow off steam when I got frustrated."

"How common was that? You getting frustrated."

"In the beginning, very. I couldn't do anything, and I didn't know who these people were claiming to be my family. Over time, I got better, but I never got to a point where I felt like my father really cared about me."

"What makes you say that?"

"Just constant little digs at any effort that I made. My physical therapist wanted me to wait until my thirteenth birthday to start catching up academically. My father wouldn't follow the plan."

"Why did your therapist want you to wait?"

"She believed I had three areas I needed to heal. The physical, mental, and emotional. She thought the physical and emotional were the most important to start with."

"What do you mean she wanted you to work on the emotional?" Chris asked. "Can you explain that?"

"Sure. She wanted me to go to counselling over the summer. Get a complete grasp on what was going on with my head. Losing all my memories, that kind of thing. But my dad was convinced I could handle having counselling and being homeschooled."

Chris, who'd been pacing as he asked Carrie questions, suddenly stopped and turned around. "Wait. I'm confused. Didn't you just say your father thought you _weren't_ strong enough to handle a party?"

"Yes."

"But he ignored the advice of a trained medical professional because he thought he knew better than she did."

"Yes." Carrie answered.

"And how did that go?"

"For a few months, it was seven days a week of going to counselling, going to school, or both. He only stopped when he and my mother got into a fight about it and he cut it down to five days a week."

"Was he encouraging at least when he was making you work seven days a week?"

"Very seldomly. Everything was either 'you're not working hard enough' or 'come on, you can do better'. It got to the point eventually where I just tuned him out."

"I see. Let's move on a little further. At what point did you start using drugs?"

"I started selling them at sixteen, using at seventeen."

"What exactly, over the course of the next few years, were you addicted to?"

Caroline huffed a little. "You name it, I tried it. But what I used the most was cocaine and heroin."

"Why do you think you started using?" Chris asked. "Was there any one specific thing?"

Caroline could tell where Chris was going, but she still wasn't willing to place the blame where Chris wanted it. "Addicts don't get excuses. But yes. I started using because I felt like I didn't belong at home."

"Is that why you stayed away? Even with your uncle and grandparents begging you to come and stay with them?"

"Yes." Carrie said simply.

"Let's move on to a night a few years later." Chris said. "Can you tell me what you remember about the night you were beaten up?"

Carrie took a deep breath before answering. It had been a while since she thought about that night in much detail. She still had nightmares about it, nearly seven years later.

"It's actually one of the clearest memories I have from when I was living on the streets." She said. "It was one of the only nights I wasn't high."

"Is there a reason for that?"

"Yeah. I'd managed to find a one night a week part time job, sweeping out the steps of a church at night. The priest would give me twenty-five dollars a night and let me sleep there, give me a meal. His only condition was that I couldn't show up to work high. So, the night before I would show up to work, I'd make myself stay clean for thirty-six hours so I could earn the money."

"Was that hard?"

"One of the hardest things I've ever done. But it got me to start thinking about going to rehab."

"How so?"

"I realized that if I could go thirty-six hours clean, I could go thirty-seven."

"So what happened that specific night?"

"I had worked the night before and had the money in my pocket. I decided to use it and go to Golden Corral for the buffet."

"How was that any different from normal?"

"I'd usually save it up and make it last throughout the week. But I hadn't eaten in a few days at that point."

Caroline immediately regretted what she'd said when she noticed Dean shuffle around and frown deeply. The week she'd gone into the hospital had been the only week in three years Dean hadn't stopped by to see her. He'd been working double shifts that week, and had simply been too exhausted to head out there. It was one of the things Dean felt most guilty about. He'd always wondered if he could've saved Caroline had he just gone to her that night.

"I see. So what happened next?"

"I ate my fill and left when the restaurant closed. The whole time I was eating, these two guys were harassing me, telling me to leave and that no one wanted me there."

"Did the restaurant staff help you?"

"The manager told them to leave me alone. That I was minding my own business and they should do the same."

"What kind of things were they saying to you?"

"They knew I was homeless. They would accuse me of sneaking in, scamming people to get money to pay for the buffet. I tried to keep to myself, just ignore them, but they eventually got to the point where they were trying to block me from getting away from my table."

"Is that when the manager stepped in?"

"Yes. He told them if they didn't leave me alone, they were getting kicked out and would be banned from the place for good. They left, but not before threatening to catch up with me outside."

"Did they?"

"Yeah. They followed me for a while, trying to intimidate me. Every time I'd turn around, one or both of them would be behind me. They, um, caught up with me and slapped me around a little bit at first, and then I got away."

"You got away?"

"Yeah. I started running, anywhere I could get away from them. I just wanted them to leave me alone. I started running back to the church, but it was on the other end of town. So I decided to take a shortcut through the park."

"Is that where you ran into your parents?"

"Yes. I saw them there and I begged them to help me. Begged them to take me home. I promised to go to rehab if they'd just help me."

"What did they say?"

"At first, my mother was willing to. But my father wouldn't budge, no matter how much I begged. I was scared for my life and he just left me there."

"How long after you saw your parents did the two guys catch up with you?"

"Couldn't have been more than five minutes. My parents had just turned the corner in their car and I had run to the other end of the park."

"So there's a good chance that if they had put you in the car with them, that you might have been safe that night?"

"Objection! Speculation."

"Overruled, Mr. Lincoln. I'd like to hear Ms. Winchester's answer." Judge Tyler said.

"Probably." Carrie said. "Obviously I can't say for sure, but yes. I just wanted to get away from them."

"Did they do anything else to you? Other than beat you up?" Chris asked.

"No. I was afraid they were going to, but no."

"Did you ever call the police?"

"No. My uncle and the doctors in the hospital wanted to."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because I couldn't remember their faces or anything about them when I woke up. And people tend not to believe drug addicts too much."

"You were unconscious for a few days, correct?"

"Yes."

"What happened when you woke up?"

"I heard my uncle talking to someone. He was on the phone. It took me a minute to realize who he was talking to."

"Who was he talking to?"

Caroline swallowed. "My father. He was telling him what kind of shape I was in. Begging him to come see me."

"What did your father say to that?"

"He wouldn't say too much at first. The first thing I heard him say clearly was 'my daughter's already dead, Dean'."

"Wow. That must've been hard to hear."

"It was." Caroline said, trying to stop her voice from breaking. "It felt like he hated me more than ever before."

"What happened after you left the hospital?"

"My uncle had found out from the nurses who did a blood test on me that I was pregnant. The doctors wanted to keep me another couple of days just to make sure that I would be okay. Dean and I spent those two days talking. Talking a lot."

"What did you talk about?"

"I ended up deciding to go straight to rehab from the hospital."

"And why exactly did you decide that?"

"Two reasons. The first and most important was my baby. I wanted to be her mom, but I knew I wasn't anywhere near ready for that."

"And the second reason?"

"I was hoping to convince my father that I deserved to be back in their life."

"In _their_ life?"

"My mom and dad both." Caroline explained. "I knew that if my dad wasn't convinced, my mom wouldn't be either."

"You got a job right out of rehab, didn't you?"

"I did. The director noticed me making a lot of notes every day. He asked me what I was doing. I told him it was a habit. I had to make a lot of notes because if I didn't, I'd forget important things."

"And how'd that lead to a job?"

"He explained to me that he also ran a halfway house. He wanted someone to keep the books there. Make sure everything was up and running. Collect the rent and give receipts, those kinds of things. I explained to him that I was three months pregnant at that point, but he didn't care. He wanted me working for him."

"Are you still employed there today?"

"I am." Caroline said with a smile. It was one of the two things in her life that she was insanely proud of, the other being Kelsey.

"Have your job responsibilities grown?"

"They have. I also counsel the residents. I help them find places to live after they leave."

"Is that what you were doing with the so called 'drug user' your father was accusing you of associating with?"

"Yes. She had found a job and an apartment. She wanted my help to reconnect with her family."

"And how did that turn out?"

"She ended up not needing her apartment. Her mother invited her back to live with her. She calls me once a week and she's doing great now."

"Good. That's all my questions, your honor."

"Alright. Mr. Lincoln, your turn." Judge Tyler said.

"Thank you, your honor." Mr. Lincoln stood and faced Caroline, again with the fake smile that creeped her and Dean out so much. "You seem to have done a good job with your life, Ms. Winchester."

"Thank you."

"Tell me something. Do you believe your father loves you?"

"I wouldn't know. The last time I remember him saying the words I was twelve years old."

"How do you think he feels about you?"

"Again, I wouldn't know."

"Let's examine the evidence then, shall we?" Mr. Lincoln asked. "You said earlier that your father went against the advice of your physical therapist and forced you to start school earlier than she suggested. Correct?"

"Yes."

"How did that end up working out?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, how did you do in school? What were your grades like?"

"I made A's and B's."

"You made A's and B's. And you said you were caught up enough in school to go back when you were sixteen?"

"Yes."

"So, with your father's 'forcing' you, as you say, you went from the academic ability of a preschooler to a tenth grader in under four years."

"Yes."

"He also 'forced' you to exercise, did he not?"

"He did."

"And that exercise helped you regain most of your function back, did it not?"

"Yes, it did."

"Ms. Winchester, let's go back to the night in the park. When you saw your parents, did you tell them what was going on?"

"I told them I needed help."

"But did you tell them, specifically, what was going on?"

"No. No, I didn't."

"So it's reasonable to say that if you _had_ told them, then and there, that your life was in imminent danger, they _might_ have helped you?"

"They might have."

"So is it really fair to place all the blame for that on your father?"

"Objection!" Chris interjected. "My client's already said she doesn't blame her father for that."

"Sustained."

"Just a couple more questions, your honor. Ms. Winchester, when your father changed the locks and refused to allow you back into the house, how many times had you run away up to that point?"

"Three."

"So he gave you _at least_ three chances to turn yourself around before he finally told you not to come back. Right?"

"Right."

"And before that, between the time you were sixteen and eighteen, how many times did you run away?"

"I didn't run away before I was eighteen."

"Then let me rephrase. How many times did you leave the home of your parents without permission?"

"I don't have an exact count."

"Guess."

Caroline sighed. "At least once a month."

"So, a conservative estimate would be thirty-six times."

"I suppose so."

"Very well. I'm all done, your honor."

"You're dismissed, Ms. Winchester." Judge Tyler said.

"Your honor, I have a request."

"What would that be, Mr. Patella?"

"I'd like to ask that my client be allowed to see her daughter." Chris said.

Judge Tyler didn't answer at first. He grabbed his pen in front of him and swirled it through his fingers. A few seconds later, he reached his decision.

"Mr. Winchester, where is your granddaughter right now?"

"She should be just outside, your honor." Sam answered. "My wife brought her. We were planning to have lunch together today."

"That is a plan. But you will not only be having lunch with your wife and granddaughter, you'll be having it with your daughter and brother too."

"Your honor?" Chris and Mr. Lincoln said at almost exactly the same time.

"Mr. Reid, what were your plans for lunch today?"

Mr. Reid, the court bailiff who had barely spoken since the case began, seemed startled but answered the judge's question. "Um, sandwich in my office, your honor."

"Would you mind going down to the cafeteria with everyone for me?"

"Not at all, your honor."

"Good. Here's what's going to happen. Everyone is having lunch together. Both misters Winchester, Mrs. Winchester, Ms. Winchester, and Kelsey. Mr. Reid will accompany all of you at the table. You may get whatever you want, and Mr. Reid will instruct the cafeteria to add it to my account. Mr. Reid, if _anyone,_ and I mean _anyone_ , speaks of this case with Kelsey, that person will be held in contempt and this case will be continued for another thirty days. After lunch, we will all meet back here, and I will have my own conversation with Kelsey. Any questions?"

"I have one, your honor." Caroline said.

"Yes, Ms. Winchester?"

"What should we say if Kelsey asks questions about the case?"

Judge Tyler smiled and softened his stance slightly. "Just tell her that we'll all talk about it together after lunch. If she presses, just do your best to change the subject."

Caroline nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Now, this is how I am planning to proceed. I want this case done today, everyone. That means that after lunch, I will question Kelsey. I will allow questions from both lawyers after I'm done talking to her, but you will be kind and considerate with her. I will not have a six-year-old little girl breaking down in my courtroom because anyone's being mean to her. Am I clear?"

"Your honor, my client is violently opposed to this idea." Mr. Lincoln protested. "He doesn't want his granddaughter involved in this process."

"She's already 'involved in this process', Mr. Lincoln. And your client has no choice here. This is my courtroom and I'm in charge of this case. He can follow my plan or I will issue a judgment right now. What'll it be?"

Mr. Lincoln looked down to Sam, who was frowning but nodded his head. "We agree, your honor."

"Very good. As I was saying, I will talk with Kelsey when we come back from lunch. She will leave with her grandmother after that, and both sides will present summaries. We will take a fifteen minute break if needed, but we will finish with summaries before leaving today. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes, your honor."

"Very well. We're dismissed. Have a good lunch, everyone."


	8. Chapter 8

Kelsey sat in her granny’s lap, trying hard not to look scared. Uncle Dean and Mommy and uncle Chris were sitting at one table, and Grandpa and his friend Mr. Lincoln were sitting at another. Granny was holding her close and was trying to make her feel better, but it was only working a little bit. Kelsey watched as the judge walked in, told everybody to take their seats, and started talking.

“Alright. I hope everyone had a good lunch. Are we ready to proceed?”

“Yes, your honor.”

“Yes, your honor.”

“Very well. Is Kelsey here?”

At hearing her name, Kelsey did what she’d always been taught to do when an adult was looking for her. She sat up and answered, “I’m right here.”

“Well, very good. Kelsey, I’d like to talk to you. Can you come up here, please?”

Kelsey’s eyes went wide and she looked up at her granny. She had known she’d have to talk to the judge, but she didn’t think she’d have to go up there all by herself. Kelsey shook her head firmly.

“She’s scared, your honor.” Granny said. “May I talk to her for a moment?”

“Of course. Take your time.”

Granny pulled Kelsey around and whispered. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“I don’t want to go up there.”

“He just wants to talk to you. That’s all.” Granny said.

“I don’t want to do it. I’m scared.”

Granny frowned and looked over at the judge. “She’s terrified, your honor.”

“Kelsey? If you’d like your granny can sit up here with you. You don’t have to come all by yourself.”

“I can sit in Granny’s lap?”

“Yes, sweetie. I just want to talk to you for a few minutes. You’re not in any trouble, and you won’t get in any trouble. Okay?”

Kelsey turned back around to her Granny. “You’ll go with me?”

“I sure will. Come on, baby girl.”

Kelsey took Granny’s hand and walked up to the witness stand. She held in her other arm her teddy bear, the one her mommy had given her a long time ago. The bear was named Cookie, and he went everywhere Kelsey did, even to school. Granny sat down first and then picked up Kelsey and put her in her lap.

“Hi there, Kelsey.”

“Hi.”

“So I know your name, would you like to know mine?”

“Okay.”

“My name’s Judge Tyler. It’s really nice to meet you.”

“You too.”

“Do you know why we’re here, Kelsey?”

“Kind of.” Kelsey said.

“Can you tell me? I just want to see how much you know about what’s going on.”

“Well, my mommy said you’re trying to see if I should live with her or with my Granny and Grandpa.”

“That’s exactly right. Can you tell me what it’s been like living with your grandparents?”

“It’s been okay. Granny’s really nice, but she’s sad a lot.”

“Really? Do you know why she’s sad?”

“’Cause she misses my mommy a lot and wants to see her more.”

“I see. Has she told you that?”

“No. I hear her and Grandpa fighting sometimes when they think I’m asleep.”

“Do they fight a lot?”

“They fight when Mommy leaves from coming to see me.” Kelsey said. “I don’t know if they fight other than that.”   
  


“What about your grandpa?”

“He’s kinda grumpy but he’s usually nice.”

“What kind of things do they do with you?”

“Take me to school and pick me up. Help me when I have any homework.”

“Okay. Let’s move on to your mommy. Is she a good mom to you?”

Kelsey smiled and looked over to her mother. “She’s the bestest mommy in the whole world!”

“That’s quite a statement. What makes her the best mommy?” 

“She’s real funny, and nice, and she makes the bestest cookies…”

Judge Tyler laughed. “I think I get it.”

Kelsey was starting to feel better. Granny was right. The judge was really nice. So Kelsey forced herself to relax and just keep answering the judge’s questions.

“Kelsey, everyone’s told me why they want you to live with them. So I’m gonna ask you. Where do you want to live? With your mommy or your grandparents?”

Kelsey didn’t even hesitate. “I want to go back to my mommy. But I’m scared too.”

Everyone gasped in the courtroom, and Kelsey saw her mommy put her hand to her mouth like she was going to cry. She felt bad for making her mommy want to cry, but she had to be honest.

“Why are you afraid, sweetheart?” Judge Tyler asked.

“Well, maybe I said it wrong…”

“Just do your best.” Judge Tyler urged her gently. “Why are you afraid?”

“Well, I didn’t know my granny and grandpa before I went to live with them. I don’t like that they took me from Mommy but I love them a lot. I’m afraid if I go back to Mommy I won’t get to see them anymore. And I’m afraid that if I stay with Granny and Grandpa, I won’t get to see Mommy or uncle Dean again.”

“I think I get it. You want to go back to your Mommy’s, but you want to still see your grandparents. Am I right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. I see.”

“Your honor? May I say something?”

Judge Tyler looked out into the courtroom for the first time since he’d started questioning Kelsey. He was pleasantly surprised that no one had reacted to the questions he’d asked Kelsey, but he could see that Mommy was itching to let Kelsey know something.

“Go ahead, Ms. Winchester.”

“Kelsey. Look at me, honey.”

Kelsey looked over to her mommy, and was happy she wasn’t crying like Kelsey thought.   
  


“No matter what, I will let you see your granny and your grandpa if that’s what you want.” Mommy promised.

“You promise?” Kelsey said.

“I promise, honey.”

“But what if you forget?”

“What do you mean, Kelsey?” Judge Tyler asked. “Why do you think your mommy might forget?”

“She forgets stuff sometimes.” Kelsey said. “She told me she hit her head real hard when she was a kid ‘cause she got hit by a car and it makes her forget stuff.”

“If I forget, uncle Dean and uncle Chris’ll help me remember. Okay? What’s going on between me and your grandparents is between me and them. If you want to see them, I’ll let you.”

“Does that mean I’m coming back to live with you?”

“We don’t know that yet, Kelsey.” Judge Tyler explained. “I have to think a lot about with this, but I promise you, that no matter what I decide, you’ll get to have your mommy and your grandparents. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Alright, Kelsey. Do you have any questions for me?”

“Um, yes, sir. But I don’t want to ask in front of everyone.”

“Why’s that?”

Kelsey suddenly got really uncomfortable. The truth was that she didn’t want to ask in front of everyone because she didn’t want her grandpa to get mad at her for asking it. But if she said that out loud, Grandpa would know right away what it was she was asking the judge.

“Kelsey? Would you like to come around to the other side of the bench and ask me by whispering into my ear?” Judge Tyler suggested.

“Yes, please.”

“Alright. Just climb down and walk around.”

Kelsey did it, walked up to the judge, whispered in his ear, and asked her question. Judge Tyler smiled, but not the smile that Kelsey could tell meant he was happy. It was the kind of smile she got from Granny or Grandpa when she asked why they wouldn’t really talk to her mommy if they missed her so much. But Judge Tyler winked.

“I’ll take care of it. Okay?”

Kelsey smiled. “Okay.”

“Alright. One second.” Judge Tyler turned around and asked the other adults in the room, “Gentlemen? Any questions? Remember what I said earlier.”

Both Chris and Mr. Lincoln shook their heads, so Judge Tyler turned back to Kelsey.

“You go in the hallway with your Granny. Everyone’ll be out in a minute.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Go on.”

As Kelsey went into the hallway, Judge Tyler faced the rest of the adults in the room. When the door shut behind them, Judge Tyler explained,

“The question that Kelsey whispered into my ear was whether or not she could spend the night with her mommy tonight. She explained that she’s asked a lot before and she was always told no because ‘the judge said so’. Mr. Winchester, do I really need to make this an order?”

Sam shook his head. “No, your honor.”

“Very well. Ms. Winchester, you may take your daughter home tonight.”

Caroline laughed in relief before she and Dean shared a hug. “Thank you, your honor.”

“Unless I need more time, I’m calling us back here in twenty-four hours. Two o’clock tomorrow. I know Kelsey’s out of school tomorrow, but I do not want her in the courtroom. Is that understood?”

“Yes, your honor.” Both sides replied.

“Very good. Summaries?”

Mr. Lincoln stood and delivered his summary first. “Your honor, it’s quite simple. My client only has his granddaughter’s best interests in mind. He’s been portrayed by Mr. Patella as an unfeeling, uncaring father who just dumped his daughter out onto the street. But the truth is, he was a stern but loving father who gave his daughter chance after chance after chance before he finally had to let her go. It was an example of tough love, your honor, not heartlessness. And as a result of my client’s actions, his daughter is now clean and sober. He’s simply afraid that, given his daughter’s history, and the fact that her job involves dealing day in and day out with other drug users, she will fall back into that pattern. If his granddaughter lives with him, he can watch and make sure that it doesn’t happen. Your honor, his goal is not to hurt his daughter, it’s simply to make sure that his granddaughter doesn’t fall into the same trap his daughter fell into.”

Mr. Lincoln took his seat, and a shaking Chris stood up. He had a hand on Dean’s shoulder, to stop the furious man from decking Sam’s lawyer and probably Sam himself. Once Dean nodded, his signal that he’d keep his seat, Chris began.

“Your honor, quite frankly, all that is crap. Mr. Winchester had multiple opportunities to begin a relationship with his granddaughter since she was born. This whole suit is simply the result of my client putting a very reasonable restriction on him. Let Kelsey get to know and trust you before you tell her that you’re her grandfather. That’s it. Mr. Winchester didn’t like that, so he reacted by filing this suit. The equivalent of a temper tantrum that Kelsey hasn’t had since she was three years old.”

“Objection!”

“Calm down, Mr. Lincoln. The case is over. Mr. Patella, please continue.”

“Thank you, your honor. As I was saying, yes, my client has a history of drug abuse. But so do countless other people in the world. She has not only turned her life around, she spends her life now helping others that are in a similar situation as hers. Including me. Five years ago, I was close to being fired. I failed a drug test at my firm, and they were planning to let me go. If they had let me go for that reason, even if I wasn’t disbarred, it would’ve been next to impossible for me to find another job. I met Caroline, we got to talking, and she convinced my boss to give me a second chance if I went to treatment. Without her, your honor, I wouldn’t be here today. I owe her my life. As do so many others. My client shouldn’t be penalized for that. She should be celebrated. To take her daughter away from her for this is cruel, your honor. She deserves better, not only from her father, but from this court as well. Thank you.”

Judge Tyler dismissed everyone, and actually made his decision fairly quickly, but he still waited until one thirty the following afternoon to cement it in his mind. This case had been the most unique of all his time in family court. But he knew, deep down, he was doing the right thing.

As he always did, Judge Tyler took a look at the plaintiff and defendant when he walked in. There was something…off about Sam Winchester. He’d been so confident the last few days that he was doing the right thing. Confident almost to the point of arrogance. But today was different. That arrogant confidence was no longer there, and Sam appeared to look defeated.

Caroline was the exact opposite. She’d appeared timid and shy the first few days, as if she wasn’t sure that fighting to get her daughter back was exactly the right thing to do. Now, she seemed invigorated, refreshed. It was a nice change, and one that Judge Tyler secretly thought she deserved.

“Alright. I have made my ruling, but before I deliver it, I have a few things to say. To reduce confusion, since everyone has the same last name, I’ll be referring to you by your first name. Is there any objection to that?”

“No, your honor.” Everyone said.

“Very good. First of all, Dean. I have to say, I’m amazed by you. Not a lot of people would take in a child that wasn’t theirs. Much less, a pregnant and drug addicted child. That’s admirable of you, sir.”

“Thank you, your honor.” Dean said. He actually blushed. He wasn’t used to taking compliments.

“I do have one thing to say. No matter how you feel about your brother, I expect you to help foster a relationship between him and your niece and great-niece. If you obstruct that, chances are good we will end up right back here. Understand?”

“Yes, your honor.” Dean said. He disagreed, but he was ready for all of this to be over.

“Caroline. I am astounded by you. It takes my breath away how you’ve gone from circumstances that most of us could barely imagine to where you are today. I wish I knew a better way to put this sentiment, but good job. Keep it up.”

“Thank you.”

“And now. Sam. It is clear to me that you care immensely for your granddaughter. I do get that. But I am absolutely stunned that you were able to obtain custody of a child that you barely know. That a month before you had never met. I am, very, very reluctantly here, _not_ pursuing an investigation into this. But if you ever sue for custody of your grandchild again, I won’t hesitate. Am I clear?”

“Yes, your honor.”

“Very well. Down to business, then. Effective at five pm today, I hereby award sole physical custody of Kelsey Winchester to her mother Caroline. Case dismissed.”

When the gavel came down, Caroline and Dean let out a cheer. They were sharing a hug and Caroline noticed that Sam was hanging his head. She saw him check his phone and put a hand to his mouth. Thinking that he was upset at the verdict, Caroline started to walk over to make some kind of peace with him. Before she could, Sam turned and ran out of the room. Caroline started to call after him when Chris grabbed her shoulder.

“Come on. We’re going to the hospital.”

“What? Is it Kelsey? Is she okay?”

“No. Kelsey’s fine. It’s your mom.”

“My mom? What about her?”

“She passed out at home and Kelsey called 911. They’re at the hospital now. Your mom woke up and asked that you be contacted too.”

“Do they know what’s wrong with her?”

“That’s all I know. Come on.”

“Chris? Why don’t you ride with us in the Impala? It’ll be quicker and I’ll drive you back later to get your car.” Dean suggested.

“Sure thing. Let’s go.”

The five minute ride to the hospital seemed much longer. Caroline jumped out of the car and ran into the emergency room entrance. The first thing she noticed was Kelsey, who was sitting in the waiting room with a nurse. Kelsey jumped and ran over to her mother, who scooped her up and held her.

“Kelsey? What happened, baby?”

“Granny was making lunch and she grabbed the oven door. She said she didn’t feel good and told me to get the phone and bring it to her. I did, but she fell to the floor and she wouldn’t wake up.”

“So you called 911?”

“Yeah.”   
  


“That was very brave, kitten.” Caroline said. “I’m very proud of you. Come on.”

Chris, who’d gone to the desk to ask where Jess was, came back looking pale. Kelsey decided she wanted a hug from Dean too, so Caroline handed her over and met Chris halfway. A nurse followed him.

“Chris? What is it?”

“Your mom’s not in the ER anymore.”

“Where is she?”

“Ma’am? Are you family?”   
  


“Yes. I’m her daughter. What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, honey. Your mom’s limited to two visitors at a time right now. If you want to come see her, you’ll have to find someone to watch your daughter.”

“What is going on? Where is she?”

“Carrie, your mom’s in the oncology ward.” Chris said. “She’s dying.”


	9. Chapter 9

“She’s…she’s what?”

Chris grabbed Caroline’s hand and pointed her to the nurse. “Go with the nurse. Go see your mom.”

“Oh. Um…” Caroline turned back around, where Dean was still holding on to Kelsey.

“I’ve got her. Go to your mom.”

“I want to see Granny too!” Kelsey protested.

The nurse, who’d seen grandchildren of all ages denied access to their dying grandparents, had finally had enough. She walked over to Kelsey and took her hand gently.

“Listen to me, sweetie. You can see your grandma for a minute. But you can’t stay long. She needs her rest, and your mommy still has to talk to her. Okay?”

“Are you sure?” Dean asked. “I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“I’m positive. I’ll take her and her mom back there, and I’ll bring her back out here. You’ve got five minutes, young lady. Understand? Not a minute more.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

“Alright. Go grab your mommy’s hand.” Dean put Kelsey down and she went to follow the nurse’s instruction. “I’ll bring her back out in a few minutes.”   
  


“Thanks.”

“Let’s go.”

The nurse led Kelsey and Caroline up to Jess’s room, then told them to stay outside for ‘just a moment’. She went inside, presumably to let Jess know that Caroline and Kelsey were there, and came back out a moment later.

“Alright. Your mother just woke up, so be gentle. Come on in.”

Caroline walked in slowly, and her mother’s appearance took her breath away. She had not noticed how much weight Jess had lost in just a few months. She was pale, just a shadow of her former self. She was much sicker than Caroline had imagined in those few steps up coming to Jess’s room. Jess smiled when they came in.

“Hi, my girls. Come on in.”

“Granny, are you okay?”

“I’m just fine now that you’re here, love. Come here and give me a kiss.”

Kelsey walked over and climbed onto the side of the bed, with Sam’s assistance. Kelsey kissed Jess’s cheek and gave her a hug, then took a look at her Granny very closely.

“Granny, you don’t look so good.”

“I’m okay, sweetness.” Jess said with a smile. “Why don’t you go on with the nurse back to uncle Dean?”

“I don’t want to leave you.”   
  


“Your Grandpa and your mommy are here. You go on, okay?”

“Okay. Loves you Granny.”

“I love you too.”

After another kiss for her mother and grandfather, Kelsey was led out of the room by the nurse. A tense silence followed. Sam was in a chair next to Jess’s bed, still avoiding eye contact with Caroline.

“Sam.”

Sam looked over to Jess, and Caroline noted more care and concern than she’d seen in him in years. “Yeah, honey?”

“Leave us alone for a minute.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea…”

“I didn’t ask if it was.” Jess said firmly, and Sam seemed shocked. “I want a few minutes to talk to my daughter. Leave us alone.”

“Alright. I’m right outside if you change your mind.”

“I won’t. Go ahead.”

Caroline didn’t comment, just watched as her father walked out of the room. She didn’t miss Sam sniffing as he left, but she didn’t have much time to think about it.

“Sit with me, baby.”

“Mom, why wouldn’t you tell me you were sick?” Caroline asked as she took her seat next to her mother.

“I’m sorry, honey. We had already hurt you enough, I didn’t want to drag you into this fight.”

“Fight? How long have you known?”

“I was diagnosed five years ago.”

“What? Why wouldn’t you tell me?”

Jess took a deep breath and pushed herself up on the bed a little more, a simple action made much more difficult by her condition. Another thought hit Caroline.

“Wait. _How_ did you hide this from me?”

Jess just smiled at that. “Makeup can do wonders.”

“Mom, I just don’t get it.”

“Shh. I need to say something to you first. I need you to listen, because I don’t have much energy right now and I need to get this out. If you want to yell or get mad at me after that, it’s okay. Just let me go first. Deal?”

“Okay, Mom.”

Jess swallowed, finally making the speech she’d spent months preparing. “That night in the park. When you ran into me and your father. Did you get hurt because of us?”

“Mom, don’t blame yourself for that…”

“Caroline Presley, answer the question.” Jess said. “Did you get hurt because we wouldn’t bring you with us?”

Caroline considered lying again, but didn’t want to waste any more of her mother’s time. She knew that Jess would call her on it and just ask the question again.

“They caught up with me a minute later. Just when you and Dad drove off.”

“The jogger?”

“What?”

“I saw a man running through the park when we were leaving. Was it him?”  
  


“Him and a friend.” Caroline said. 

If she’d been in pain at all when Caroline entered the room, Jess had hidden it well. But the tears filled her eyes at Caroline’s admission, which had confirmed her worst fears. She’d been in a position to stop Caroline from being hurt, and she’d done nothing to help her.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I never meant for you to be hurt.”

“I know, Mom. It’s okay. You didn’t know what would happen.”

“No, it’s not. You asked me and your father for help and we left you. That’s not okay. You deserve better than that. Okay?”

“Okay, Mom. I forgive you, then.”

“You’re a good person, Caroline. Good at the heart. I’m sorry we treated you any differently than that. And I’m sorry I listened to your dad for so long. Shutting you out like that was so wrong.”

“Do you know why he did it?” Caroline asked. “I just don’t understand. I got help, got my life back.”

Jess smiled. “So you didn’t know.”

“Know what?”

“Honey, your father’s kept track of you ever since you got out of the hospital.”

“What?” a shocked Caroline asked. “He has?”

“Yeah. He keeps the letters you sent us, the newspaper clipping of you reopening the halfway house, and all the pictures you’ve sent us of Kelsey in his wallet. He brags to all his coworkers and his friends about you.”

“Why wouldn’t he ever tell _me_ that, Mom?” Caroline said, and she couldn’t help raising her voice. “I needed to _hear_ it.”

Jess answered as she reached a hand to Caroline’s face and wiped away the tear that fell there. “I honestly don’t know. He doesn’t talk to me about it either. I’ve tried for years to get him to contact you. He finally did when…”

“When he bumped into me in town? Are you telling me that wasn’t an accident?”

“It was at first. He saw you drive into the store and he turned his car in. He wasn’t going to say anything at first, but he finally did.”

“What about this custody hearing?”

“I tried to talk him out of that. I didn’t even know about it until the day of the first hearing.” Jess answered. “But you know your father. When he puts his mind to something…”

“Yeah. His way or the highway.”

“Honey, listen to me. That fighting that Kelsey told the judge about? Your father didn’t tell me that he’d told you to stop coming for dinner every night. I only found out because I read through his texts. That’s what we were fighting about.”

“So, you didn’t know about that?”

“No. I didn’t. And I never would’ve let your father keep Kelsey from you.”

“What did you think happened?”

“He told me you stopped coming because it was too painful to be around us.” Jess said. “Maybe it makes me an idiot for believing him for so long…”

“You’re not an idiot, Mom. Be nice to yourself.”

Jess smiled. She’d often told Caroline to ‘be nice to yourself’ when she’d get frustrated and would call herself names while recovering from the car accident.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Mom, I just…I just wish we could’ve had the time together, you know?”

“I know, baby. But I need to ask you a favor. I understand if you don’t want to do it, but I think you will.”

“What is it?”

“Your father’s terrified of being alone. Give him another chance, please. For me. He told me you promised to keep Kelsey in his life, but I want you to promise me you’ll stay too.”

“Mom, I tried that…”

“He won’t stay away like before. Just give him another chance, please. For me.”

Caroline sighed. “Okay, Mom. I will.”

“Thank you, baby.”

“How long are you staying here?”

Jess smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m not dying today. I just had a dizzy spell.”

“What’s going on with your treatment?”

Jess gave a quick rundown of where she was. Though her time was getting short, Jess was convinced she still had ‘a few months left in me’. After talking about everything from Kelsey’s birth to Caroline’s job to funny stories that had happened in the years since she’d turned eighteen, Caroline jumped when there was a knock at the door. Chris poked his head in.

“Hey. Kelsey was getting restless so Dean’s getting ready to take her home.”

“Oh. Okay. Thanks.”

“I’ve gotta go, too. We left my car at the courthouse.”

“Oh. Um, okay. Give me a minute…”

“No.” Chris said firmly. “Stay here and visit with your mom. Dean and I will take care of Kelsey. Call us when you’re ready to come home. Which better not be for at least a couple hours.”

Caroline smiled. “Okay. Thanks, Chris.”

“You’re welcome.”

When Chris was gone, Caroline turned and found her mother smiling. “What are you smiling at?”

“You like him.” Jess said.

“Yeah. We’ve been friends for a few years now.”

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”

“What?”

Caroline blushed deeply. The thought of a closer relationship with Chris, had, of course, crossed her mind before. But was it that obvious?

“Just know something. You’ve got my blessing. Okay? He’s a good guy.”

“How do you know? You’ve only met him a couple times, and both times in court.”

“Because he fought for you in the way that your father and I should’ve been fighting for you all this time. He’s a good guy, Caroline. Don’t let him get away.”

“I’ll think about it, Mom.” Caroline said. She smirked and asked, “But just one question.”

“What’s that?”

“If Chris and I ever got married, can I please drop my middle name?”

Jess chuckled heartily, the first time in a long time that she’d really laughed. “Sure.”

“I’m gonna go find Dad.”

“Talk to him.” Jess said. “Don’t let him change the subject.”

“I will, Mom.”

Caroline left and walked out into the hallway. She looked through the two waiting rooms on each of the hallway, went out to Sam’s car, and checked in the small park next to the hospital, but her father seemed determined to stay out of her sight. She finally found him in the cafeteria, staring at an untouched plate of fruit and nuts.

“Can I join you?”

Sam looked up and towards the door. Caroline wondered if he was looking for an excuse to get away. “I should get back to your mother.”

“She asked me to come find you. She wants us to talk.”

“Talk about what?”

“Why don’t we start with the fact that you lied to me about why I couldn’t come over every night?”

Sam shifted a little in his seat. “She told you about that?”

“Yeah. Apparently she doesn’t have a lot of time to skate around the truth.”

“She’s already ripped into me for that.” Sam said. He pushed the plate away and stood up. “I’m going back to your mom.”

Caroline had not felt her temper rise in years. It simply wasn’t a part of who she was. She was a problem-solver, and anger simply got in the way of that. But this was a problem she’d spent years trying to solve, and she was finally fed up with it.

“TALK TO ME!”

The cafeteria was nearly empty, with only another couple sitting in the corner, but they looked up at Caroline’s shout. The employees also took a glance, but after a second or two, went back to work. Sam stood in shock looking down at Caroline, but Caroline simply stared him down until Sam took his seat again.

“Look, I’m sorry. Just talk to me, please.”

“About what?”

“About why you won’t talk to me!” Caroline said, exasperated. “I did everything you ever asked me to do. I’m sober, I have a good job, I finished school. What more do you want from me?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why is it such a fight to get you to be in my life?”

“I’m done talking about this…”

“I didn’t do it.”

Sam turned, irritated. “You didn’t do what?”

“You started turning away from me a long time before I ever started using drugs. It started when I woke up in the hospital after my accident. I’ve spent so long trying to figure out what I did wrong. But I didn’t do it. I didn’t hit myself with that car. I didn’t make my brain shake around my head so hard that it hit my skull. I didn’t break my bones or my back or my leg. I. Didn’t. Do. It. So why do you blame me for it?”

“I don’t! I blame myself!”

A long, shocked silence fell at Sam’s proclamation. When Caroline recovered, she asked, “You blamed yourself for my accident?”

“Of course I did.”

“Why would you blame yourself? I don’t understand.”

Sam sighed. “The week of your accident, you finally convinced me to let you walk to school. You begged me for almost two months to let you. I finally gave in, and you were so excited to have some independence. I should have never let you do it.”

“Dad, it’s not your fault.”

“Yes, it is. I was your dad and it was my responsibility to protect you.”

“Is that why you gave up?” Caroline asked. “Why you pushed me to the breaking point and were never really nice to me?”

“I thought if I pushed you and got you functioning as fast as I could, I wouldn’t feel as bad anymore.”

“And not talking to me after I got out of rehab?”

“I blamed myself for you needing it in the first place.” Sam explained. “I was scared. Scared if I came back into your life I might drive you back into it.”

“Then what was taking Kelsey away from me about?” Caroline asked, her fury starting to grow with every passing moment. “You didn’t think that might push me ‘back into it’?”

“I panicked.” Sam explained. “Your mother’s condition started going downhill fast. I thought that maybe, if I brought Kelsey home, it would give her something to live for. I thought maybe…”

“She’d fight a little harder?” Caroline suggested.

“Yes.”

“I don’t get it. I told you I was more than willing to let you meet Kelsey. I just wanted to ease Kelsey into it. Why were you so angry when I asked you to just give it some time?”

“Because I didn’t see how you could forgive me for what shutting you out for so long.” Sam said. He still wasn’t looking Caroline in the eye.

Caroline wanted to scream. Suddenly, her father’s confusing way of dealing with her started to make a little bit of sense. He didn’t turn away from her because he blamed her for anything, or because, as she’d thought for so long, that he hated her. He’d turned away from her because he felt guilty for not protecting her and keeping her safe. He blamed himself for her problems, physical, mental, and emotional. Caroline’s urge to scream faded as she practiced with her father what she did with the people she helped at the shelter.

She put herself in his shoes and wondered how she’d react to the same guilt he placed on himself. How would she behave if she thought that she’d hurt Kelsey? If she thought she’d caused Kelsey not only physical pain, but emotional as well? Caroline realized that, without some kind of reassurance, it might be easy to come across as apathetic. Caroline wondered if her father had ever been given the assurance he needed. Would it make a difference?

With her heart beating fast, Caroline did something she hadn’t done in years. She reached over and touched her father’s hand, hoping he wouldn’t pull away. Sam’s hand twitched slightly, but he stared at Caroline’s hand until she spoke to him.

“Dad, please look at me.”

Sam looked up, hoping against hope the moisture in his eyes wasn’t evident to Caroline. If it was, she didn’t say.

“Let me ask you a question. And be honest. If you had known what was gonna happen to me in the park that night, would you have helped me? Would you have walked away?”

“No. No, I swear I wouldn’t have.”

Caroline decided she believed him. “You didn’t do it either. What happened to me, with that accident and getting beat up that night, was not your fault. The choices I made were not your fault. I’m sorry that Grandma and Grandpa and uncle Dean gave you such a hard time. I’m sorry if they made you feel like you were a bad father. Yes, you could’ve been nicer to me, but you didn’t push me to do drugs, and you didn’t make me stay on the street. I don’t want you carrying this around. Okay?”

Sam shook his head and pulled his hand away from her. “No. How can you do this?”

“Do what?”

“Forgive me so easily when I’ve hurt you so bad.”

“Honestly? I’ve been through too much _not_ to forgive you. I just want you in my life. I still love you.” When Sam let loose the tear that Caroline had noticed but not commented on, she said cautiously, “Dad?”

Sam wiped his eyes and said emotionally, “I’m sorry. I’ve been so scared I’d be alone when your mom died.”

“You don’t have to be.”

“I’m sorry.” Sam said again.

“I know. I forgive you. I’m sorry too. I get it now. I know you were trying to get me help. I don’t like how you did it, but I know you weren’t trying to hurt me.”

After a few awkward seconds, Sam asked, “What do we do now?”

“I say we go to Mom’s room and let her know we made up like she wanted.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Hey, Dad?” Caroline said. “Just one more thing.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“I meant what I said. I want you in my life. I want you in Kelsey’s life. But I’m telling you, right here and right now. You ever try to take her away from me again, and I don’t care what I’ve promised Mom. It’s over. For good. You got me?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah. I got you.”

Caroline smiled. “Come on. Let’s go talk to Mom.”

As they stood up, Sam asked Caroline, “So, how do you think your uncle’s going to react to this?”

“You let me worry about him.”

**A/N: So there it is guys. Sam and Caroline’s somewhat reconciliation. I put this note at the bottom of the story because I didn’t want to spoil the ending to this chapter. Their reconciliation isn’t perfect, and I wrote it that way intentionally. As I’ve said before in many of my stories, things don’t work out the way they do in the movies and on TV. You don’t have a family estranged for years, have one conversation, and everything’s back to normal. With Sam and Caroline here, they’re on the right track, but there’s still a little too much time, space, hurt, and resentment in the way for their relationship to be a truly close one.**

**There is one more chapter, which I’ll try to have up before I leave for vacation the day after tomorrow. Stay tuned!**


	10. Chapter 10

_Six Months Later_

Caroline opened the front door to the house, weighed down with presents and food. Dean chided her for being a ‘one trip girl’ and refusing to come back to the car for anything. Kelsey ran to the front door of the house and rang the doorbell. She was practically vibrating with excitement, and almost mowed Sam down when he opened the front door.

“Grandpa!”

“Hey, kiddo.” Sam said. “You celebrating a little early?”

“Christmas is tomorrow, Grandpa! We got to get moving or we’re gonna miss it!”

“Well, why don’t you help me help your mom get everything inside and then we’ll start?”

“Okay!”

Kelsey helped bring everything inside, then helped her Christmas challenged grandfather by involving them in what she, Caroline, and Dean did every year. Kelsey had been over to Sam’s two weekends earlier and decorated the tree, but she added ornaments onto it that she’d made at school. She ‘taught’ Sam how to make Christmas cookies with her mother’s help, and encouraged Sam to eat Dean’s traditional Christmas chili for dinner. After dinner, Caroline faced a still excited but somewhat drowsy Kelsey.

“Alright, kiddo. We can watch one Christmas movie. Which one?”

“Come on, Mommy. Grandpa should see them all.”

“Honey, there are _six_ different movies on this DVD. There’s no way we’re watching them all.”

“Can we watch three tonight and three tomorrow?”

Caroline opened her mouth to say no again, then turned to Sam and winked. “Grandpa? What do you think?”

“I think that’s a great idea, kiddo.”

“Cool!” Kelsey said. “And it’s Grandpa’s house. What he says goes.”

Caroline laughed. “That sounds right to me. Which one should we start with?”

Before the first movie was even halfway done, Kelsey was fast asleep. Dean lifted her up and carried her to bed, then headed to the bathroom to take his shower. He told Caroline he was headed to bed, only to be given a stern warning.

“You go to bed now, I will put literal coal in your stocking. You still have to help me set up for Santa, and we will do gifts tonight like normal. Got it?”

“Got it. I’ll be back.”

As Dean headed to the bathroom, Sam watched him and frowned. “He’s never gonna warm back up to me, is he?”

“I wish I could lie and say yes.”

“It’s okay. I get it. I know he’s only here for you. He did take care of you when I didn’t. I can’t be too mad about it.”

“He’ll warm up to you. He will. He’s just…I don’t think he trusts you yet that things won’t go back the way they were before. He’s worried about me.”

Sam smiled. “I know. It’s okay. What was that about opening gifts tonight?”

“Oh. So, ever since Kelsey was a baby, Dean and I opened our presents on Christmas Eve. That way, the big day belongs to the kid.”

“That’s smart.” Sam said.

“Actually, here.” Caroline walked over to the tree and pulled a long, thin present out. “It’s not much, but here’s yours.”

“You don’t want to wait for Dean?”

“Do _you_ want to wait for Dean?”

“No thanks. Give it here.”

Sam started to carefully open the gift, before Caroline rolled her eyes and teased him until he ripped it. It was a photo, one taken three months earlier, just days before Jess had died in her sleep. Kelsey was in her Halloween costume, sitting on the bed with her grandmother, showing her what she’d gotten while out trick or treating earlier in the night. Caroline was on the bed next to Kelsey, and Sam was kneeling down next to the bed. Dean was behind the camera.

It was the only family photo they had.

“Dad? Do you like it?”

Sam swallowed thickly, his mind racing with bittersweet memories. “I love it.”

“Good.”

“Here.” Sam pulled out his own gift from under the couch. “I didn’t wrap it. That was your mom’s department.”

“It’s okay.”

The present was a book, a thick book that Caroline had to put on the coffee table because it was so heavy. Caroline recognized her mother’s handwriting right away.

_Caroline Presley Winchester_

_Age Birth-Twelve_

“What is this?”

“Open it up and find out.”

Caroline opened the first page, to find a photo there of a newborn baby with a paper bracelet around its wrist. Next to the photo was a half page of paper, with a paragraph written by her mother.

_This is the day you were born. I kept telling your father not to bring a camera into the delivery room, but now I’m glad he didn’t listen. I’m glad I got to hold onto this moment. Keep reading, and maybe you can hold on to some of these moments too._

“What’s this?”

“Your mom worked on that book for years. She wanted to give it to you when you graduated high school. It’s most of the photos we have of you from the time you were born until your accident.”

“All the stuff I can’t remember.”

“Right. She wrote a note next to each one telling you what’s going on.”

Caroline smiled. “It’s a timeline of my life.”

“Yep. You want to read it?”

“Only if you read it with me.”

“Read what with you?”

Dean had come back downstairs, and for the first time in years, the three of them reminisced over past happy times. Dean even found himself laughing with his brother, and by the time all three adults were asleep, the two brothers had reached a tentative peace agreement. They had only seemed to asleep for a few moments when Kelsey’s delighted shriek ran through the house.

“Wake up! Santa came!”

A sleepy Sam was met at his bedroom door by Caroline, who held out a hot cup of coffee to him. “Bless you.”

Caroline responded by kissing her fahter’s cheek. “Merry Christmas, Dad.”


End file.
